Po was not one to shy away from a new adventure showing itself to him.
He was the Dragon Warrior, after all. He was the one who would be the first in line whenever there was danger coming on the horizon. Whenever there was someone doing wrong things and threatening the innocent, you could be sure there will be a panda rushing into action and ready to do what he had to do to help and do his part in bringing down the evil.
That was what Po did. It was what he has been doing for over ten years now, and he was very good at it, with no false humbleness.
He was the one hero of the hour. The big and fat panda who hungered for justice. The black and white dragon who rose into the horizon whenever there was someone in need for a hero.
And he was more than ready for what could be his greatest challenge yet: to save the magic spring from which all chi of the world originated from a crazy blind lizard who wanted to attack it and was using Master Peafowl as his guide to get to there by following the clues that Peafowl knew and that they also had thanks to the magic scroll.
Yeah, that certainly sounded like an adventure Po would be having.
As soon as Shifu came back with his staff.
And soon, the little master was coming back, joining everyone else who was there with Po. He now carried two staffs with himself, both the one Oogway left for him, and the one he left for Po.
The one left for Po, the green one, was respectfully given to the panda, who took it with equal respect.
"Guys, how come Master Po doesn't carries the Staff of Wisdom all the time?" Gator asked, as he watched as Po took the green staff from Master Shifu, who answered was Doe:
"Because the Staff of Wisdom is an irreplaceable relic originated from the Spirit Realm. It is very important and power, with the power to increase the user's ability to use and control chi. It is not something that you carry around all the time, but that you use on important missions."
"Like saving the Tien Spring." Monkey said, looking at the younger students, and the other Five nodded. Meanwhile, Po was soon spinning the staff around, and he even sent his chi into the staff, causing it to glow in a golden light as the panda spun it around and even flipped it in the air, before catching it again.
"Oh, yeah!" Po said, as he clutched the staff firmly on his hand. "Now I'm ready!"
"Well, that's good." Said Tai Lung, who had been waiting there for a while with the Dragon Scroll on his hand. "Now, what about we go and stop Jiao Din?"
"Oh, right! That's it! Let's go!" Po said, as he was soon bidding farewell to everyone, giving his six students instructions to continue training on his absence by "following the list he left", and then rushing down the stairs alongside Tai Lung.
Everyone watched the panda depart.
"There he goes to save the world again." Gator said, looking at him.
"I hope he comes back safe." Scorpion said, looking at his teacher move down the stairs, and nearly trip on his way down.
"Of course he will!" Said Swallow One.
"He is the Dragon Warrior, after all!" Said Swallow Two. "Some crazy Komodo dragon will not be able to bring him down!"
"It is not the Komodo dragon I am worried about..." Tigress said.
Silence followed the feline's words, as everyone took in what she was saying, and some of them, especially the Furious Five and Shifu.
They were still not sure if they could trust Tai Lung. Especially considering the things he said about how he wanted to kill Po himself.
"You think he might betray Master Po?" Doe said, "That he might hurt him?"
"If he does, then running to the other side of the world will not be enough to save him." Viper hissed, looking down the stairs and vowing to herself that, if Tai Lung as much as hurt a single strand of fur of Po's body, then she would make sure to skin that leopard and make his skin into a rug to decorate the walls of the Hall of Heroes. Her own personal donation to the extensive collection of kung fu treasures they had in there.
"I don't think we should let Po go alone with him!" Mantis suddenly said. "I mean, the guy tried to kill Po the first time they met! He probably plans to try it again, as far as we all know! He might even be planning on taking the Staff of Wisdom to himself!"
"Master Shifu, we should not have agreed to allow Tai Lung go with Po alone." Crane said, "He will probably try something."
Crane was voicing the same worried as everyone else when Tai Lung said that. For this mission, he and Po would have to go with no one else with them, as the others would "slow them down". Po, much to everyone's surprise, accepted those terms, and agreeing for this travel to be only Tai Lung and himself.
Everyone was worried about how quickly Po accepted this suggestion from the past enemy. Just as quickly as he accepted his request for them to bring the Staff of Wisdom with them because it would be "essential for their mission", as Tai Lung had put it and said that were "Oogway's words".
Typical Po behavior. Was what some thought. However, they were all worried with Tai Lung's requests, as they all thought that this meant that the enemy who Po once defeated was planning something vile to do with the panda. And Crane had just been the one to say aloud what they were all thinking.
Including Shifu, for that was when the small master said:
"Yes, you are right... which is why they will not be going alone."
He then turned to the others and addressed two of them.
"Tigress, Viper. You are both the strongest and the best at silent approach." Shifu said to the two ladies. "I want both of you to follow Tai Lung and Po. Make sure they don't notice you two are coming after them and keep watch. If Tai Lung tries to do anything to Po..."
"We make sure he doesn't live to regret it." Viper concluded, her eyes sparkling in a very creepy way that was very out of character for someone as kind and gentle as her. However, to Shifu, that was good. This meant that Viper would not hesitate to do what she had to do when the moment came.
She would definitely not hesitate to do what she had to in order to protect Po. And neither would Tigress, from the look on the feline's eyes.
"Good. Now go!" Shifu said, using the same authority that he used to have back before he passed the command of the Jade Palace to Po, and that he still had on the moments of need. Tigress bowed to her master, and then she rushed to catch up with Viper, who was already slithering her way down the steps after Po and Tai Lung.
As the two of them went down, the others watched them depart and wished them luck silently. Including Shifu, who had great faith that, if Tai Lung's return really was a decision Oogway had made, then he knew what he was doing.
Master Oogway, may everything turn out the way you envisioned... Shifu thought.
"So, the Staff of Wisdom will really be good for this?" Po said, "Because I kind of decided I would only use it in case I really needed."
"We are going to fight a crazy villain who mastered the secrets of Chi in ways even Kai never did." Tai Lung said to the panda. "Believe me, for you to face him and win, we will definitely need to take this staff."
And he also mentally added to himself:
Also, with you taking it with us, I'll be able to claim it right away after I take your place. Along with the scroll.
"Right!" Po said, "And, about the place we are going?"
"The Musuo Mountains." Tai Lung said immediately to the panda.
"Right... are you sure?"
Tai Lung looked at the panda in surprise.
"Yeah... I mean, ain't it obvious?"
Po stopped a little to look at him.
"Uhhh, not really?"
"Are you serious?" Tai Lung said, looking at the panda for a moment, before reaching for the scroll on his belt and opening it. The words still clear as day on the previously empty reflective surface of the scroll.
"It says right here!" The snow leopard said, nearly in frustration. "To the great heights that touch the moon during the longest night of winter! That means the Musuo Mountains! They are the mountains which peak look like they are touching the moon during the nights of winter solstice! There is even a legend that says that on the night of Winter Solstice, the Moon Rabbit uses those mountains as a bridge to come to the Mortal Realm to celebrate with the common folks before going back to the Heavens and resuming making the Immortality Elixir for the gods! I mean, that should be obvious!"
Po looked at him with a blank expression. This seriously made the snow leopard want to slap his own forehead.
How did Oogway thought this guy was a better option for Dragon Warrior than him!?
"My point is..." Tai Lung said, closing the scroll again. "That the this first clue points at the Musuo Mountains. They are the first step of our journey, and they are where we are going to find the next clue. So, we go there and with a little luck, you might even catch that lizard and put an end to this before he can get to the Tien Spring."
"Right!" Po said, taking in everything that Tai Lung just told him. "Then, let's go to the Mountains! ... after we made a small stop on the way!"
"Wait, what!?" Tai Lung asked, looking at him in surprise. "A stop!? A stop where!?"
"At my dads' restaurant." Po said to him. "We will be taking some food to eat along the way."
Tai Lung could only look at the panda in shock for a few seconds, before slapping his hand on his forehead and dragging it down his features.
"Oh, for the love of- The fate of the world is literally hanging on the balance and you want to make a stop for food!?"
"Hey, armies don't march on empty stomachs, right?" Po said to him. "We might not be an army, but we are kind of worth one, right? Now come, we need to get food for the trip!"
With this, Po was rushing down the stairs once more, and he soon was urging the snow leopard to come after him as they had no time to lose. Tai Lung could only look at the panda go, with a slightly disgusted expression on his face.
"Seriously, Oogway?" Tai Lung whispered to himself. "Him instead of me?"
Then, as the panda called him once more, saying that he was "slowing them over", the snow leopard could only roll his eyes and then resume going after the panda, all the while thinking that, once he was the Dragon Warrior, he would be doing a much better job than this stupid panda with rice balls for brains.
All the while, the two of them were unaware of the two figures following them from behind, as both females were very careful not to alert the two males that they were right on their tails.
"Oh Heavens. Oh Heaves. Oh Heavens. Oh Heavens. Oh Heavens..."
Ping continued to say it to himself as he paced back and forth on his restaurant. All the while he had his wings together before his face, rubbing them nervously as he walked from one side to the other like a trapped beast.
He could not help it.
He was just son worried with his boy...
"Hey, Ping?" Li came, looking at the goose through the window of the counter. "Not wanting to rush you or anything, but the orders are kind of stacking up in here."
"O-oh!" Ping said, looking at the panda. "I-I... right. I will start working on them now. Could you get me my new pan? The big one made of copper."
"On it!" Li said, rushing into the house and looking for that new pan that they bought in recently. It was still up there on their shared bedroom, as they had not yet started using it, but they would essentially be doing it now. Meanwhile, Ping was soon putting himself to work, all the while trying to tell himself that Po was okay.
That his boy was strong, and that he had already defeated him before, and that he could do it again if he wanted to.
Po would be fine. He would be fine.
Suddenly, there was a commotion on the front of the restaurant.
"Dragon Warrior!"
"You are here!"
"We heard about... wait..."
"Oh, my Immortals!"
Ping reared his head as he heard that.
Po!
The goose was soon rushing out of the kitchen to greet his boy, as Po walked into the restaurant with the Staff of Wisdom on hand.
"Po, my son! I'm so glad you are here!" Ping said to the panda as he rushed to him. "I heard someone said that Tai Lung had-"
Ping trailed, his eyes widening as he saw the one coming right behind his panda son.
"Po! Behind you!"
"Huh, what?" Po said, looking behind and seeing the snow leopard. His mind understood. "Oh, it's alright. He is here to-"
This time it was Po who didn't had the chance to finish the thought, for that was when Ping let out a loud goose honk and went straight for the leopard.
Tai Lung, caught completely off-guard, gave a step back as that goose flapped his wings and hoovered over him while slapping him madly with his feet.
This continued for nearly ten seconds, before Tai Lung finally reacted, grabbing the goose by the torso with both his hands.
"Stop it!" The snow leopard said, but of course Ping would not just stop. Not when the guy who once tried to kill his son was right there. He once more attacked with his feet, clapping them on Tai Lung's cheeks hard a few times, before the feline roared and threw the goose.
Ping steadied himself on his feet, and that was when Li came, carrying the pan he went to fetch on his hands.
"What's going on?" The older panda asked, and the snow leopard was walking to them both.
"Now listen here, you..." Tai Lung tried to say, but that was when Ping snatched the pan from Li's hands and swung it right on the snow leopard's face.
Once more, Tai Lung was not expecting it. He didn't expect a goose to be able to swing so hard. He was left clutching his snout as Ping got ready to swing the pan at him once more.
"You leave now and stay away from my son!" Ping said, to him, and the snow leopard growled at him, his claws unsheathing as his temper was starting to kick in.
That was when Po decided it was better to step up between them to try and de-escalate the situation.
"Dad, please!" Po said, "You gotta stop! Tai Lung is here to help me!"
This caused Ping to stop, and now he and Li, like everyone else on the restaurant, was looking at him as the Dragon Warrior started explaining.
"So, that's it." Po concluded, and everyone looked at him, some with surprised expressions. Then Li said:
"Oh, that makes perfect sense!"
"What!?" Ping said, turning to the older panda.
"You heard Po, this guy came to help him. He is a friend!" Li said, "Besides, it is not as if weirder things have not happened already."
"Li, you can't be serious!" Ping said, "This is Tai Lung! The bastard who tried to crush Po to death!"
"Well, he is not here to do this anymore, is he?" Li asked, "In fact, I heard he saved our boy from those monsters. This proves he is a friend! And if the turtle Oogway sent him here, then this means we definitely can trust him."
"Tell me you are joking!" Ping said in frustration, while the older panda walked to Tai Lung.
"You come here." He said, and he surprised Tai Lung just as much as Ping did as he pulled him into a hug, lifting the snow leopard from the ground. "Thank you so much for volunteering to come and look after our son. Please, be sure to bring him back home safe and sound, okay? We are counting on you."
Ping could only face-palm at this. It still shocked him how trusting a panda could be. Tai Lung, on his end, could only stare at Li as the big panda placed him back on the ground, as he was honestly at loss on how to act.
He had heard stories about pandas being overly trusting, forgiving and sometimes seeming not to know the meaning of "stranger danger", which was one of the reasons why they were, almost universally, seem as vulnerable and not fighters at heart. They just didn't have the mean bones needed to hold a grudge onto someone enough to seek revenge.
And now, as he met some panda other than the one who defeated him years ago, Tai Lung seemed to have all but confirmed those stories.
Seriously, the readiness with which he was trusting Tai Lung as an ally of his son was baffling, to say the absolute minimum...
Soon, Po was defusing the situation with everyone else, and he was asking his dads if they could pack some supplies for the travel, since it was going to be long. Ping, of course, said that he was going to provide it for them.
"But I'll keep my eyes on you!" The goose said to the snow leopard, pointing his pan at him. "That's right, 'eyes'! Both of them!"
"Wait, but then how will you cook?" Li asked as he walked right after Ping to the kitchen, to help him prepare the food, leaving Tai Lung and Po to wait.
As they did, Tai Lung looked back at the villagers, all of which looked back at him with either anger or fear, sometimes with both.
Those were certainly not the kinds of looks that Tai Lung had once expected to receive from all of them, but he had long accepted that those kinds of looks were not as bad as he assumed.
After all, he did believe that a true warrior should choose to be feared over being loved, in case he could not be both.
Soon, the panda's two fathers were coming back with a rather large backpack, which the panda put on his back and thanked the two of them, promising to come back with a new tale to tell everyone.
"So, that's it, guys! The Dragon Warrior is off to yet another adventure!" Po said, and everyone clapped and cheered for him.
They could be very weary of the snow leopard, but they clearly loved the panda, and they all thought highly of him. Something that, on Tai Lung's opinion, was underserved.
And he was not the only one, apparently.
"Let's just hope that the panda doesn't screws this up..." The snow leopard heard a certain sheep say as he passed by him. "Seriously, what Oogway was thinking when he made that fat klutz a Dragon Warrior? Seriously, one of the Five would have been a much better option. Heck, sometimes I think that even Tai Lung would have been a better option!"
The look on the face of the bunny he was saying that to told him that the other animal didn't really agreed. Tai Lung, however, could not help but agree with what that sheep just said.
He could agree with every word.
Even as he followed the panda down the street, the two of them gaining speed as they made their way out, and everyone on the village was cheering for the panda, showing just how much they respected and adored him, Tai Lung could not help but feel that all this love the panda was receiving was undeserved.
It will be me soon enough, like it should have been from the start... Tai Lung thought as he followed the panda close behind, still fighting back the urge to pounce on him and make him land flat on his nose just for the heck of it. By the time I come back, it will be ME being showered with adoration from all of them. I will finally have what I always deserved.
With that in mind, Tai Lung continued to follow the panda. As he did, even he ended up failing to notice the two figures that were coming right behind them, following the two by silently moving from one roof to the other, and then who would continue close behind as they left the houses behind and continued their travel in direction to the one place they needed to go.
In direction to the Musuo Mountains.
The Musuo Mountains were a beautiful place. Or so had Jiao Din been told. He could not tell, because of the whole being blind thing, but he certainly heard some stories of how beautiful those mountains were on the times of spring and autumn, when the trees of the place were changing colorations due to the blooming and the losing of their leaves, respectively. It was not the time, for they were on the height of summer, but the mountains were still considered beautiful even on that time of the year, which was why they were such a famous place for peregrinations.
No wonder they were the first stop on the travel towards the Tien Spring.
Jiao Din continued his travel, going through the rocky, uphill terrain rather easily. All the while carrying the limp avian on his grip. So limp, in fact, that some people could confuse him for being dead. However, that peafowl was pretty much alive. This was obvious for the lizard carrying him, not only because he was still warm to the touch, but because he could still clearly visualize the form of his body thanks to his chi. A dead animal would not give such a clear impression.
He knew it well.
Jiao Din continued to carry Peafowl across the mountain, getting closer and closer to the top with each step he took. He was going at a good pace, but not in too much of a hurry. He was anxious to reach the end of his journey, but he had also waited decades for this chance, so a few days of travel were nothing. No good going on full gear ahead right when leaving the finish line when you were doing a long-distance marathon, after all.
However, he did feel like speeding up the step a little bit, if it meant that he would be saving himself the talk.
"It is not too late..." Peafowl said as he was carried by the lizard, who had a scaly hand firmly wrapped around the avian's neck. "You can still stop. You can still put an end to all of this before it goes to far."
"Quiet." Jiao Din said, to the peafowl. However, the bird just refused to be quiet, as he still seemed to have a lot to say.
"The Dragon Warrior is on his way to stop you by now." He said to the lizard. "When he finds you, he will make you suffer for daring to threaten the Tien Spring. You won't survive a battle with him. Please, Jiao Din, you have to stop now while you still can. You have to go meet the Dragon Warrior and apologize for what you did before he reaches you and puts an end to your life..."
"I said quiet!" Jiao Din finally snapped, stopping to face the peafowl and show him all his teeth in a hiss. His fist squeezed around the bird's neck, a purple glow coming from it and spreading over the neck of Peafowl. The bird let out a strangled gasp, as his eyes turned a weak shade of purple as his former student's corrupted chi made its way into his system once more, leaving him even more helpless than before and undermining any resistance he had managed to recover.
"I swear, I would rip out your tongue if I didn't need you to tell me the next clues." Jiao Din said to Peafowl, while the bird let out a gurgled sound as he lost the little will he had managed to recover on their travel to where they were now. "As for the Dragon Warrior? The little surprise I sent must have taken care of him and of all his little friends. He will not be a problem."
With this said, Jiao Din hoped that the travel would continue more peacefully. However:
"Oogway's heir is not this easy to vanquish." Peafowl said as he was carrying. "He survived many challenges and trials. He overcame great enemies. He fought demons and demi-gods. Those corrupted creatures you sent his way will not be able to end him. He must have already overcome them and is probably chasing after you now. It won't be long before he reaches us."
A single squeeze of his fist was enough to silence Peafowl for good. However, his last words did have an effect on Jiao Din.
It was true that the panda, as the Komodo had heard, had faced all manners of situations, and he survived all of them. He managed to, despite all the odds, overcome the challenges lay ahead of him, from Tai Lung to Kai, and all the others in between and after. This did give some credit to the tales about the panda's skills.
If half of the stories of the challenges that the panda managed to overcome were true, then it was not unreasonable to think that those little monsters that he sent on the panda's way would eventually be overcome by the fat buffoon, and then he would actually come after Jiao before he could reach the Tien Spring.
He was not actually worried, once he was sure that his skills and chi mastery would allow him to overcome that panda easily. However, he preferred to avoid the stress of having his path for the Tien Spring obstructed when he finally had a real shot of reaching it. He also didn't want to waste his precious time on the off-chance that the panda would survive his envoys and come chasing after him.
The Komodo had always been pragmatic like that.
He needed to outsource this.
Create an extra little thing to stay on the panda's way and end him if he came his way, just in case.
And, luckily, he had already detected something around that area that could be of use for him.
"Help!" Said a moth trapped in a big web. "Someone, help me!"
As he screamed squirming into the web he was into, a big spider was crawling her way towards him, a wicked grin on her muzzle decorated with big fangs.
"There is no use." The bird spider said to the moth. "You are not escaping."
"Please! Don't! I have a wife and sixty newly hatched larvae back at home!"
"One bite should suffice." The spider said, as she approached the squirming moth. "You will be out and won't even feel. Don't worry, I'll make it quick... but, not too quick. I kind of like it when they are still squirming. Time for lunch!"
However, the spider didn't had time to actually go and bite the moth, for that as when a big, scaly hand came and plucked the moth out of the web, much to the spider's shock.
"Oh, Great Immortals! Thank you! Thank you so much! I thought I was done for! W-wait, what are you doing? No! No! Please, no! NOOO-"
The cries of the moth were suddenly silenced. Just a few seconds later, the wings of the moth fell to the ground, while the blind Komodo dragon swallowed his newest meal, licking his chops in satisfaction.
"Hey!" The spider said, looking up at him. "I was going to eat that!"
"Oh, sorry, I needed a small snack. It has been a long travel." Jiao Din said to the spider. "But, don't worry, I can arrange a good meal for you, to make up for it. Something even better than a common moth. Something rarer."
"Rarer, you say?" The bird spider asked. "Hmmm, rare things are usually delicious. Are you talking about some butterfly? I heard some of them can be pretty rare and tasty."
"I was thinking something bigger." The Komodo said, leaning over to the spider.
"You mean, like a bird?"
"Try a panda." The Komodo said with a smirk. That certainly caught the spider's attention.
"Ohhh, those are rare nowadays." She said, a smirk of her own as she talked to the blind reptile. "So, will you bring me a nice and fat panda to feast upon? They are pretty big, so it might last me at least for a few weeks."
The spider seemed to be pretty into the idea, and this was good for the great monitor lizard. It was better when the people in question were willing to cooperate.
"The panda in question will be coming through this path in a while." Jiao Din said to her. "When he arrives, you can get him and then he is yours to do as you please. Just make sure he does not leave this place alive."
The spider took in the news. Then she had something to say to him:
"And, you expect me to just bring a panda down by myself? I mean, I am sure I could, I am nearly as venomous as you, but a panda is still much bigger than me. It would be quite the challenge."
"Oh, don't worry, my good new friend." The Komodo said, lifting his clawed hand, a purple glow on the tip of one of his sharp claws. "I got you covered in that area."
Without saying another word, Jiao Din reached towards the spider and tapped her forehead with his glowing claw.
A flash of purple filled the area.