Kung Fu Panda 4: The Dragon Warrior

by VengefulBale

Summary:

It's been years since Po vanquished the terrible Kai the Collector and ascended to the position of Grand Master of the Valley of Peace and the Jade Palace, life has been good so far for Po and he thinks he's reached his peak, but when Shifu prepares to fully retire from Kung Fu, Po must handle himself in preparing to become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace and find himself a worthy successor to the Dragon Warrior title especially when none of the Five are willing to take it.

To make matters worse, a fearsome enchantress and warlock known as the Chameleon plots to take the Kung Fu of every master in China and then conquer the world with an unbeatable army. With her looming presence threatening to not only bring an end to the Kung Fu masters of China but also to the world as we know it; Po, Shifu, his dads and the Furious Five prepare to take on the most dangerous adventure yet.

But as familiar faces of the past return, they find out soon they'll have some unexpected allies tagging along. Especially one particular fox thief who Po takes under his wing.

Notes:

So, I liked KFP 4, but I understand it had flaws and recent interviews REALLY motivated me to create a rewrite with an attempt to better address the story of the franchise and take Po to the next level of his life. Also, to better use characters that were underwhelming and expand on stuff I felt was too short.

Chapter 1: Prologue: The Real Dragon Warrior Returns?

It was a dark, stormy night in the outskirts of a metal factory located in a remote secluded village of China. Rain covered the wooden planks that worked as the floor of the entrance, and the goat workers of the place were currently resting and keeping themselves warm as they had suspended the activities of the day due to the bad weather. While waiting out the storm, a few of them were recounting tales of the legendary Dragon Warrior, China's most famous hero, as means of passing time.

"And then it was said that the Dragon Warrior beat Tai Lung and vanquished him to the Spirit Realm." said a goat who had a missing horn and brown fur.

"I heard he fought an army of wolves and sent them running with their tails between their legs" said another larger goat with grey fur.

"Well I heard he defeated a dragon, one that even Oogway himself didn't defeat" said a third goat with black fur and both horns missing.

"Oh don't be so much of a sucker, everyone knows those are simple legends!" said the first goat. "Awesome Legends if you ask me" said the second.

"Would make for a good tale for children wouldn't it?" said the third, the three then laughed before relaxing once more.

"Ah, when this rain blows over, we'll get back to business. Ever since that Lord Shen was beaten us metal forgers are back in business" said the first of the goats.

"Right, I'd hate to think about what would've happened if the Dragon Warrior hadn't bested him" said the second.

"Hey don't be so fearful, as long as he protects us, we will never have to fear for long." said the third goat while laying back.

Soon all three decided to take naps as the rain didn't seem to stop, with thunders coming along.

"Oh great, a thunderstorm, I'll just cover the entrance before the wind gets too strong. Everyone take shelter, this is going to take a while to stop." the grey goat was certainly annoyed that this had to happen, of all things.

The other goat workers rushed inside and began lighting the torches inside the currently inactive factory; however as they were about to light the last one, the last of the goats to enter turned back for a second to look at the distant mountains and hills and screamed in terror at the same time a thunder was heard having seen a fearsome familiar figure in the distance, the others ran to him as he seemed genuinely distressed

"What happened?" said the grey goat.

"Was the thunder too loud for you?" said the black goat.

"N-no, it's not that, it's it's..."

Before he could finish all the torches of the lair went out, to the horror of the goats, soon they all lighted up again as the entrance was blown apart by a force from outside. The scared goat almost fainted as he tried to describe what he saw or better said who he saw now that what he had spotted was in the same room as them. "It's him, but it can't be it's-" Soon at the entrance stood...

"Tai Lung!"

With a thunder and lightning presenting him, the once-deceased warrior appeared to announce his return to the terrified workers.

"It can't be, you're..." said the grey goat in fear

"You were..." said the black goat with even more fear.

"Killed? Oh, how naive of you to think that would've stopped me." said Tai Lung as he grabbed one of the pieces of the entrance and threw it at the various machinery of the factory, causing the structure to collapse before laughing. "I see I haven't gotten any rusty while in the Spirit Realm, should I crush your bones or eat you for lunch?"

"Please, don't hurt us Master Tai Lung Sir, we'll do anything you ask us to." said the one-horned goat.

"Anything, you say?" asked Tai Lung in satisfied amusement. The goat nodded in fear, hoping he'd have enough decency to spare him and his fellow workers. "Well then, I got a job for you, as you all know a long time ago a so-called "Dragon Warrior' dared to take what's rightfully mine and disgraced me, now I will reclaim my place as the one true Dragon Warrior. Spread the word that Tai Lung has returned! And most of all, tell the Dragon Warrior that I'm coming for him."

The goats all nodded in fear and ran out, not even caring about the rain as they made haste to spread the news of the return of Tai Lung to their villages and direct them to relay it to the Jade Palace. Immediately after they had gone far enough in their escape to see him properly anymore, "Tai Lung" began to chuckle to himself before both his eyes moved in different directions each then glared at the running workers, he then shapeshifted into a smaller form, one different to what most would've been expecting from such an intimidating presence, it was a chameleon dressed in regal clothes and coated in golden jewelry, she then tapped the ground with her tail, summoning her hidden forces.

"I got them good, didn't I?" as she said this, a group of armored Komodo dragons, water monitors and snapping turtles emerged from various places inside the factory, they all began watching the goat workers run in fear alongside their boss. 

"Right, boss." "As usual" "Totally" said the minions at different intervals.

The shapeshifter that impersonated Tai Lung then took a look at the fleeing workers and approached her soldiers with orders specifically for the runaways.

"I'm a bit bored at just scaring them you know? Make those workers take their sweet time with the message. After all, there are 30 of them, they'll get the news going too fast for my liking." said the Chameleon.

"Can we thin them a bit boss?" asked one of the water monitors.

"Just a few. And with that I mean, kill half of them." she said dismissively.

Her warriors all chuckled as they grabbed their crossbows and aimed at the multiple running goats, with smirks on their faces they all fired at the hapless workers with deadly precision. The running workers were indeed thinned to half of their numbers the unfortunate ones dropping dead instantly to the horror of the survivors who kept running rather than risk sharing the fate of their fallen comrades. The shapeshifter then laughed as she and her minions began to get going to returning back to their base.

"Soon my children, we'll rule this world. And the kung fu masters that once protected China will fall to our might" she said as she grabbed a piece of the metal of the factory and enchanted it giving it a glowing blue symbol of a chameleon before tossing it to a snapping turtle minion.

"They won't be ready for what's coming." She then had her minions haul the metal out of the place before she looked at the sky and thought to herself about her goals. "And you, Dragon Warrior, you'll be the last to fall. Your friends will be of great help in your demise".

As she exited the place with her minions in tow, the storm intensified while the surviving goats kept running, not looking back and hoping the news would reach the Jade Palace soon enough.

"Soon, they all will pay."

Notes:

Expect more soon, hope you liked the first chapter, this is my first fic so forgive my terrible flaws at writing.

Chapter 2: The Legends of Awesomeness

Summary:

Po and the Five confront the nefarious criminal Xīniú as their first mission after years apart.

In the mountain regions where the legendary Chohr-Gom prison once stood a gang of criminal rhinos were hanging out, this was once considered the safest most inescapable prison in all of China, but after the escape of its one and only prisoner, the infamous Tai Lung; and subsequently said prisoner's death, it had been abandoned by both its workers and manager. Nowadays, it was a hangout for the criminal gang of rhinos, all former guards who lost their jobs after the escape of Tai Lung and turned to crime to make a living. The rhinos had built a lair in the wreckage of the prison, providing them a hideout against their foes. At this moment they celebrated a recent raid and were counting the loot from the many villages they had attacked. The Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior had been gone for almost 4 years by now, so crime had risen a bit in their absence, mostly of those bold enough to think they would never return.

"With all this gold, we'll be like Kings in weeks." Said one of the rhinos who had a prosthetic metal horn. He was the leader of the gang, Xīniú the Formidable. Xīniú had once stood in the frontlines against Tai Lung but ran from his post once the snow leopard began to make his escape and only returned after the latter had been defeated and the prison abandoned. He took the chance to take the unemployed surviving rhinos under his wing and raised a fearsome criminal gang from them. As the boss rhino celebrated with his high-ranking minions at a table, he consulted with his security about the outside, wanting to make sure not one Kung Fu master or pesky rival was awaiting them to lower their guards.

"Nothing going on outside, Jiao?" Asked the boss to his relatively smaller employee who was a rhino with a smaller horn and lighter colors than his boss.

"Erm, nothing boss, we just brought a set of six crates of loot from another raid. Luckily no kung fu master or anything saw us. I do hope the Dragon Warrior or the Furious Five didn't see us they've been gone for so long." He said while trembling, Xīniú was a scary guy and he didn't want to get on his bad side.

The rhino boss just laughed. "Heh heh heh. HAHAHAHA! You think that fat panda and his gang of clowns stand a chance against me? I'd like to see them try and bring down Xīniú the Formidable!."

As he said this the six boxes of loot were brought to him, and he ordered them placed at the center of the table he was sitting in. He and the others then kept on discussing their recent looting and laughed at his remark. But before he and his forces could keep on rejoicing in their villainy, he was unpleasantly surprised when the boxes began talking in response to his gloating.

"Then don't mind if we do, Mr. Bad Rhino Guy." said a voice from within the boxes.

As the voice was most familiar to any and all bad guys in China, Xīniú's confidence immediately plummeted as he realized in horror that the boxes weren't filled with treasure, rather the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five who had managed to sneak in and were sure to completely ruin his operation, he barely had time to even react as the boxes were busted and the warriors emerged, each of them beating the high-ranking rhino criminals who charged at them with ease. Xīniú threw a weapon at Jiao and cowardly ran out of the lair.

"Take care of them, you fool! Protect me!" he said without missing a beat as he threw his minion under the bus.

"But boss I!" Jiao didn't even have time to say more as Crane blew him away with his Wings of Justice gale attack, alongside his fellow high-ranking rhino criminals leaving them defeated in a corner. The rest of the Five and Po engaged the rhinos with continued ease, using their combined techniques to send even the largest scariest rhinos flying like tennis balls; Po and Tigress in particular were performing spectacularly together, kicking, dodging and punching in perfect synchrony, it was almost a dance between two lovers that just happened to serve them in fending off their enemies, Tigress guarded Po's back and Po guarded hers, Po even intercepted rhinos thrown by Tigress into the air and knocked them out with his trusty Chi staff, the gift Oogway gave him from the Spirit Realm as sign of his growth, he then decided he'd return this favor by grabbing a rhino by the horn with his staff and spinning a bit before throwing him at Tigress who slammed it downwards and into unconsciousness; after less than 10 minutes all the rhino goons were finished but the boss still was left, Tigress figured Po would want to catch up and take out the big fish so without even saying a word she grabbed him by his arms and threw him with precision at the fleeing rhino boss, smirking as she knew Po would teach that criminal a lesson he'd never forget.

"All yours, Po." Tigress said as she knew her friend would finish this.

"Thanks Tigress, here we go!" shouted Po in response as he flew towards the last enemy.

Xīniú kept on running, having made it out of his lair and not even bothering to check on his minions as he figured they'd distract the masters long enough to enable his escape. However, as he prepared to board an elevator at the edge of the cliff Po caught up before he could do more and jumped high into the air forward before standing between the rhino and the elevator, challenging him.

"Going somewhere buddy? I think the prison was right behind us." Po said with a smug smirk, Xīniú was far from the worst bad guy he'd faced this year, let alone his entire career. He'd seen a million like him, boastful and self-absorbed until he and his awesome buddies kicked their butts. It almost felt like a scripted farce to make him look good, maybe if they weren't legitimately harming people he'd have theorized that was the case.

The angered rhino decided to attack as he pulled out a giant spiked hammer he carried on his back, but each of his swings failed to event graze Po's fur, as the Dragon Warrior danced around the clumsy attacks of his foe.

"Buddy what's with all the violence? Chill out." he said as he nonchalantly waited for his foe's attack as Xīniú continuously and furiously swung at him.

"Nope." Po said as he dodged and upwards swing.

"Not here." He dodged a downwards swing.

"Oh, that was a close one" He remarked as Xīniú tried to jab him and did come close to giving him a slight massage to the belly.

Without missing a beat and deciding he'd seen everything he needed to see from his foe, Po grabbed the hammer's head and threw it into the abyss, leaving Xīniú unarmed and virtually defeated, before grabbing and throwing the rhino into the air and fully defeating him with one well-placed kick to the gut that sent him flying into the gate of his own lair knocking him unconscious; Xīniú fell to the ground defeated with his tongue sticking out for maximum humiliation factor. Po then turned back to the jail and saw all the rhinos beaten up and tied by the Five being hauled to the entrance.

"Guess we crashed down on their party a bit too hard, didn't we guys?" The others chuckled at Po's comment before pulling out carts they had brought and hid to carry the prisoners and began to haul them to an appropriate jail in China, choosing Gongmen City as it had recently been renovated by Master Croc and its jail now housed many criminals including members of Shen's army. As they walked down, the masters recounted their recent adventures having only recently come back together after nearly four years to deal with the immediate threat of Xīniú after being informed by Zeng.

"So, Po, is it true that you've gone on some adventures of your own? That sounds like something you wouldn't do." Tigress asked sarcastically, she knew full well her friend now was capable of handling himself all alone in missions without them and certainly must've been doing heroics while away.

"Yeah, I've beaten up a bunch of bad guys all over China, I even fought a flying baby-eating ray." Po said in excitement, recalling in flashbacks how he had to save a seabound village from that monster and his other ray goons, ending in him tying up the beast with its own tail.

"Oh, that sounds wicked, baby-eaters are always nasty." said Viper, the most outwardly caring of the Five liked children and was genuinely disturbed that a baby-eating criminal was once loose around China.

"Yeah, guy was scary, I'd dare say almost as scary as Shifu when he doesn't get his morning tea. But like Shifu, turns out tying him up works well." Po then went on which elicited some laughter from the group. He then looked at Tigress and decided that he wanted to hear what she and the others did too.

"Tigress, I heard you went on that journey to rescue a princess from an evil king in the North, is that right?" Po asked.

"Yeah, I did. That monstruous King isn't getting up from his throne in a long while" she responded with her usual professionalism leaving little to the imagination of her friends, who cringed a bit thinking about that guy's current sorry state.

"Crane you searched far and wide for trouble in the South and beat an ancient warlord that wanted to create rock golems." he continued talking excitedly.

"Sure did, Po. Turns out wings beat rock." Crane responded proudly.

"Viper, you stopped the war between mongooses and snakes of the East! Absolutely awesome!" she blushed a bit as she was genuinely flattered by the compliment. "Oh, it's just duty, Po."

"Monkey you managed to save an entire city in the West from a rogue clan of demon thieves."

"They couldn't handle my style, one hit from my staff and they went down like mahjong pieces in an earthquake." Monkey responded confidently.

"And Mantis, you were erm..." Po stopped for a bit here, certainly Mantis had some other awesome adventures but his most recent was... Not quite the most dignified thing ever.

Mantis frowned but still responded. "Surviving my wife's attempts to eat my head, yes, I had to marry her to stop a superweapon from being built and that almost tied me to a crazy woman. Luckily for me, she met a bigger man in a spider and now I'm all up for the ladies again." Mantis remarked with confidence.

Po and the others just rolled their eyes at his last statement, while the tied-up Xīniú briefly woke up only to complain. "What did I even do to deserve this?"

The group just looked at him, with looks that screamed "you know why" without them even saying a word, before moving along. As the masters had almost reached Gongmen City and unknown to them, a pair of lizards spied on them from afar, a hooded figure stood in-between them.

"It seems they do live up to the legends. I'm kind of scared right now." Said one of the lizards, specifically a water monitor that was currently trembling a bit at the sight.

"Right, seems like we've got a handful of problems with them. Is it too late to quit and retire to a summer house?" said the other lizard, a Komodo dragon.

"Worry not you two, our boss will handle those losers once the time comes." said the hooded figure while chuckling to themselves, they turned back and began running back to base to report the most recent activity to their leader, with the two lizards following in tow. Meanwhile, the masters finally reached Gongmen City where they were greeted by the citizens with utmost excitement, everyone wanted to interview them and get their autographs but while Po almost felt tempted to be distracted by this, he was quickly reminded by Tigress not to get caught up in the fame.

"Po, focus, first we deliver these rhinos to Master Croc and then we can entertain the citizens." Po almost tried to rebuke it but quickly put himself back together.

"Yeah, right, right, sorry I'm just used to doing these sorts of things by now." Po responded as he reflected on the older times where he'd stop virtually anything he was doing to please his fans.

"You're a grand master now, Po, China's greatest hero, you have to set an example of discipline for others, including us." Tigress said, albeit in the nicest way she could put it.

"You're right, sorry, I just... Well, kind of have a hard time letting go of that. But enough for now. I just hope there aren't any... stairs over there." The Five didn't speak up about how there would obviously be a lot of stairs on the way to the newly-rebuilt palace and prison, knowing that Po would find out sooner or later. After some more walking they finally reached the capitol and near the prison, here they greeted and introduced themselves to the Przewalski gazelle guards.

"Greetings, we are the Furious Five." Said Tigress, for some reason she had picked up on Po's habit of using more "informal" names rather than going through with the titles, it felt a little easier for quickly making conversations go along.

"And the Dragon Master!" Shouted Po, but the guards were confused as the Five facepalmed.

"Po, does anyone seriously calls you Dragon Master? I don't think that title actually exists" said Viper in concern.

"Oh, come on, it is an awesome merge of my Master and Dragon Warrior titles isn't it?" said Po distraught a bit at this nickname he'd given himself falling flat.

"It is inventive but it kind of complicates things doesn't it?" said Monkey.

"Reminds me of Crane thinking that adding "Wings of" before every move he executes doesn't sound corny." said Mantis in a mocking tone.

"That case is different you barely even understand the-" Crane said in anger before they were interrupted by Tigress.

"Ahem! We were here to drop these criminals, can we go back on it?" she said while hoping they would stop arguing about titles and made-up names for once.

"Yeah, sorry, about that" said the others before the guards let them pass.

"Go on, Masters of China, we will inform Master Croc of your arrival" Afterwards they dropped the tied-up rhinos on the outskirts of Gongmen Jail where the guards took them in to their new residence. Meanwhile Master Croc greeted the warriors, having not seen them in a long while.

"Hey it's the Five, I see my invitations to the new and renewed Gongmen worked!" he said as he rushed to see his old friends.

"It is beyond awesome how this place is now, Master Croc!" said Po, as usual the first to continue the chain of praise.

"Sure is, Po, thanks for bringing those guys here." said Croc in genuine gratitude to the warriors.

"We were also returning some treasures and belongings they had stolen here, I suppose you'll know who each belongs to." said Viper as she presented the treasures that they were able to account from Gongmen when they overheard the conversations of the rhino criminals.

"Oh yes, thank you all for that too" said Croc.

"Well guys, we stopped some bad guys again and we're all back together, so how about we go to my dad's shop for some noodles?! They're on the house today!" the other Five cheered as they were quite hungry after days of travelling and stopping trouble on their path with only small rations to keep them going. "

Fair well, lead the way then, Dragon Warrior." said Tigress while similing at her friend. As they left Gongmen, with Po having to autograph some fans as usual to the annoyance of the others, Croc and his guard bid them goodbye as they began to handle the stolen loot. Once the warriors had left the outskirts of the city, Croc then met up with the Soothsayer who had seen their meeting from afar. The Five and Po then made their way back to the Valley of Peace, stopping in any village where the rhinos had looted and returning their treasures.

"Feels nice, doesn't it? Making the villagers happy by giving back what's theirs." Tigress said as they gave the loot back on a river-bound village. The others nodded agreeing with his sentiment.

"But I feel nicer about reuniting with you guys, I missed you while you were gone in your own missions, and I was on mine. And I bet Shifu misses us even more. Who knows what new piece of philosophy he'll tell us next when we see him again?" Po said, pouring a bit of his personal feelings on his words, which moved the others knowing Po felt that way about not seeing each other. 

As they continued giving back the stolen goods, each town gave them tokens of gratitude for their deeds some a little weirder than expected but appreciated, nonetheless. Po himself thought of this as the best life ever, he had friends, an awesome Kung Fu title and popularity in all of China, two loving dads and the respect of everyone. To him it felt like if he were to die, he'd do so without regrets or feeling like he'd have anything more to achieve.

...

Or did he really? Po didn't want to entertain that last thought. Why did it suddenly appear? Was it something else he needed to achieve? Like, marrying a beautiful princess or prince? Or earning Employee of the Month at his dads' noodle shop for the 40th month in a row? Or maybe even get Shifu to sign his handmade shorts? Or maybe... become even greater than a master? Was that even possible? Did such a title and prestige even exist? Who knew? As far as Po was concerned, he'd reached the top and had to stop but still something about this bothered him deep down.

Notes:

So I initially planned to expand the Stingray vs. Po fight but I then decided to reintroduce the Five and Po simultaneously instead. I moved up their missions in the timeline so they've already been finished by the time the film starts and that some time has passed where the warriors didn't see each other. Also decided to reintroduce a few other characters in a minor capacity for now. Hope Xīniú is a decent introductory villain.

BTW: Xīniú (犀牛) means "rhinoceros" so that's one bonus in case you didn't get it.

And Jiao (脚) means "foot" everybody's got lame names like Shifu! :p

Chapter 3: The New Valley of Peace

Summary:

Po and the Five make it home and some things have changed.

Meanwhile, a familiar face returns to Gongmen City with an ominous warning.

Notes:

Third chapter ready, do be ready for some slowdowns occasionally. But do not get too worried.

Po and the Five finally made it back to the Valley of Peace and were glad to see it still was living up to its name. Without missing a beat they walked around the main village, looking for Ping's noodle shop. Po last remembered that Li said he'd moving to the Valley and a few pandas had decided to go with him to find new places to live. It almost felt like an eternity since he thought he was the only panda left and now they even lived near his home, it felt very comforting to him to say the least. A few child pandas running around greeted the Warriors, among them Lei Lei, the little panda girl who admired Tigress, she was now visibly older but still carried her admiration for the member of the Furious Five.

"Stripey baby!" cried out Lei Lei as she ran to hug her friend, who didn't do much to protest. However, Mantis did hide remembering the time she used him as an action figure.

"Good to see you again, Lei Lei. How are you?" asked Tigress. Once the little panda let go and waved goodbye, they spotted Ping's noodle shop, though now they noticed it had been renamed to "Ping and Li's Dragon Noodles".

"Would you look at that, Po, now you're a marketing attraction." said Mantis in amusement at Ping capitalizing on Po's success.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Po replied. "Would you believe me if I told you that he has sold merchandise of me on the place?"

"I wouldn't put it past him, honestly." Crane said. "In a good way, that is."

"I didn't know your other dad now lived here." Viper had primarily noticed Li's name was now on the sign.

"Oh yeah, my panda dad said he would move in here some time before we all left on our journeys of self-discovery and awesome butt kicking." Po then took a look to see if his dad was present, only the crowd outside of multiple citizens awaiting their turns could be seen. Just as he tried to look around the multitude of civilians blocking the view, familiar voices called out to the Five and Po.

"Son!" shouted Li Shan and "Po!" shouted Mr. Ping at the same time. Both ran to hug their son, with Po returning the hug despite feeling a bit crushed by both dads hugging him at once.

"Thanks for the hug, dads." said Po before they both let go.

"And I see the Five are here with you, too. Hello again, everyone, from your looks I can tell you're really hungry so who wants some of Ping's noodles." asked Ping, it was in his instinct as a chef to notice potential customers. And they were his son's closest friends, so he'd know when they were hungry.

"We'll be pleased to." said Tigress.

"And they're on the house, right dad?" said Po excitedly.

"Erm, son, I think we'll just take off some of your salary from your next week for that." said Li as a precaution to Po.

"What, really?! Come on, just a little favor dads! For the Dragon Master" said Po almost in a begging tone. Even at the level of mastery he was, he still couldn't help but retain the same old dynamic with his dads, especially when it came to food.

"Not this time, Po, you're the Grand Master of the Valley I'm sure a few credits off won't hurt you. Unless you go on another tour and run out of money for food there so... You'll be fine... And since when did you even get called the 'Dragon Master'" replied Ping incredulously at the new title Po gave himself, which Po frowned at briefly. "Well, what are you all waiting for, we'll get to making those noodles you love in an instant, don't we Li?" Ping looked at Li rather attentive.

"Sure do, love." Li replied while looking at Ping lovingly before guiding the group to the restaurant.

"Well, thanks for taking one for the team, Po, never change." said Monkey to annoy Po a bit.

"Wait, are your dads being together a thing now, Po?" Mantis asked perplexed on Li's tone and look towards Ping.

"I don't know, they were pretty close to each other last time, I think I even saw them cuddling." Po replied a bit caught off guard himself. While years had passed since Li and Ping met, Po still remembered when Ping seemed less than fond of Li and to think of them now getting along and more like this was surprising.

Tigress wasn't even surprised at Po not noticing the obvious but decided not to make fun of him at his expense. "It certainly is unexpected to see."

"Congratulations on having two dads in love, Po." Viper replied cheerfully.

"I didn't even meet my dad. Mom ate him." Mantis replied with a slightly related follow-up reflecting his feelings on wishing he'd have a father himself.

"Yeah... I don't think we need to dump all our traumas on Po, Mantis." Crane replied to try and avoid any more sensitive topics from coming up.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to make this whole situation uncomfortable. I'll quiet down." Mantis replied sheepishly before lowering his head in shame.

"Nah, it's okay Mantis I heard that story a lot." replied Po as he and the others got a chair to have their meal.

Upon waiting for the food to finish once they had taken their seats, Tigress decided to get up and look around the place to pass time as she wasn't too fond of just sitting around. She looked at the portraits of Po's childhood with Mr. Ping, she liked seeing how happy Po was in them, remembering how her own childhood was not so happy due to Shifu's strictness. Ping noticed her and called her attention.

"I see you're watching me and Po's golden years." Ping still reminisced with love the days where he first took in Po and raised him and could tell Tigress had a bit of a longing face looking them. "I can tell your own childhood years were rough." he said a bit dejectedly, he wasn't an expert at reading people yet but he could tell by Tigress' eyes alone that whatever her own childhood was it wasn't exactly sunshine and rainbows.

"When you grow up in a Kung Fu temple it's hard for it to be a soft experience." Tigress still felt a bit weighed by her past and how Shifu acted with her. Despite never resenting him, she nonetheless still wished things had been different.

"I'm sure Shifu didn't mean to be too harsh on you." Li walked into the room and continued from what he'd heard. "Besides he seems reasonable if still a bit sour."

"Sure is." Tigress said.

"And hey, when are you and Po getting hitched" Li Shan asked innocently, having noticed the mutual feelings his son and Tigress had developed. Tigress in turn froze, while Ping awkwardly looked around to see that none had noticed them. The other masters didn't notice, except for Monkey who was perplexed at what they were talking about. Ping and Li resumed cooking as they talked.

"Oh I think we went a bit far there, didn't we Li? Our son should decide where and when he gets his life partner." Ping tried to defuse the situation a bit.

"You're mistaken I don't see Po like-" Tigress tried to deny her feelings but Ping didn't even need her to finish to notice her obvious denial her nervousness gave her away immediately.

"Heh, you're not fooling me, I've seen how you two interact. You and Po closer than noodles and broth." Ping replied as he adjusted a few things around his kitchen. "But do not worry about confessing or anything, I took my time to confess to Li."

"It was I confessed, actually." Li claimed.

"No, it wasn't!" Ping replied a bit annoyed.

"Okay, okay, it was you I was trying to take too much credit." Li continued.

"You also froze that day when I came forward, remember?" Ping said smugly.

"Well, yeah I did, can we talk about something else?" Li said embarrassed.

"Anyways, if it ever comes to it we got a gift from Mei Mei for you, she noticed you and Po's closeness as well but because you both left for years we couldn't give it to you until now." Ping then revealed a beautiful ceremonial dress.

"Is that?" Tigress was confused at it, she had befriended Mei Mei during some trips to the Village before her mission but she certainly wasn't expecting the ribbon dancer to give her a gift.

"A ceremonial dress we used in the Panda Village for marriage ceremonies." Li said. "My wife used one when we finally got hitched." He said in a tone between somberly and lovingly as he remembered his late wife. "And I see in you and Po, the same spark we had." Li was being very honest about it.

"I'll... think of it." Tigress said.

"Well, enough conversation, the food is ready go ahead and get your fill. Leave the dress here, you wouldn't want it to smell like noodles later would you?" Ping said as he got ready to serve the group their meals.

"No, I guess." said Tigress still confused about the situation. And trying to let the moment pass. "Thanks for the words, Mr. Ping." she replied before she went to the table to eat.

Once the food had been made and the masters had their fill, Po and the others prepared to go the Jade Palace to meet up with Shifu, they bid goodbye for now to Ping and Li.

"Thanks for the food, dads, I love you." Po waved at them as he and the others left.

"We love you too, son." both replied before returning to business.

"Your goose dad never fails to impress me with his cooking, Po. I see where you got your talent from." said Tigress.

"Well, I wouldn't call my knowledge too impressive next to my dad's." Po responded in turn while almost blushing at the compliment.

"Hey, Tigress what was that about you and-" Monkey almost asked about what Ping, Li and Tigress talked about before getting his mouth shut by Crane.

"Monkey we're on our way to the Jade Palace, we ask questions after we meet back up with Shifu." Crane tried as best as he could to avoid the question making things awkward even here.

"Right, sorry." Monkey just shrugged off what he'd seen and went along, though Tigress didn't fail to figure what he was planning to ask her in turn.

Crane gave a slightly angry look at Monkey as both slowed down to avoid being seen or heard.

"I was able to tell what they were talking about from reading their lips, but can we not provoke Tigress?" Crane said in an annoyed tone.

"Okay, okay, point taken. Don't bother Tigress. Especially on her love life. Or Po's for that matter." Monkey opted to let go of his doubt for now. "She'll sort that out on her own, anyway."

After they had caught up back with the others, pretended that they didn't just discuss things discreetly and climbed a painfully long set of stairs leading to the Jade Palace, ending in Po once again near-collapsed at the end. They were finally back but they didn't see Shifu anywhere, even after entering the training hall. The whole place was empty.

"Huh, he must on one of those Inner Peace sessions." Mantis said as the Palace's training grounds look like they hadn't seen action in a long while. "I figured he'd have trained some warriors in our absence."

"Go look for him, Po." Viper said. "We'll split a bit to give some maintenance here."

"Got it, I do hope he did take his morning tea. If not I already brought some rope." Po said before taking off to find Shifu.

The others then got to cleaning the place, waiting for Po to find their master and see if he had anything to tell this time. Shifu had become the Spiritual Leader after Po's ascension to Master so they figured he'd be in some pretty deep meditation for now.

...

Back at Gongmen, Master Croc watched as several students of his trained. He watched with attention as he saw a goose student manage to knock down a bull student by performing a nerve pinch, while a croc student beat back a rooster student in swordfighting. The Soothsayer was with him, looking at the future protectors of Gongmen.

"You have become a very effective Master, Croc." she said as she drank a cup of tea.

"Heh, thanks, Soothsayer. Ever since Master Ox left I've been able to develop here. And I have no doubt Ox is also growing in his own village." Croc had been having some difficulty as Gongmen's protector ever since Thundering Rhino's death at the hands (and cannons) of Lord Shen, but he felt he was improving.

"Your students may need some rest now. They've been training for hours by now." said the Soothsayer as she noticed the fatigue in them.

"Right, everyone stand to attention." Once his students stopped, Croc gave them a last order before they ended that day's training. "Time to rest! We'll resume in a few hours" The students nodded and thanked their master before they scattered. As soon as they had left, Croc saw that it was getting a bit late but figured one last session wouldn't hurt. As soon as he prepared to rest himself, he heard a terrifyingly familiar sound of claws hitting the ground and a peacock's tail blowing away the wind. The Soothsayer was surprised too, but her expression of familiar surprise soon turned to a frown as something was not right. Soon enough the once-though-to-be deceased Lord Shen stood in front of them.

"Greetings, it is I Lord Shen. I bet you all missed me!"

"You, you cannot be alive, the Dragon Warrior defeated you." Croc said with some fear in his voice, though he tried to mask it. "How did you even get in here?"

"Oh, I feel insulted that you think that fat dumb panda could stop me forever." He jumped and threw some knives at Croc, but the latter was ready for them and easily deflected them with his blade. "Hmm, not bad, Master Croc."

Then the Soothsayer stepped forward, without a hint of fear. "You're not really Shen, are you?" she said calmly, it wasn't her being in denial, it was her noticing "Shen" wasn't acting like himself. And she could see in "his" eyes that this was not the peacock she raised.

"How dare you imply I'm not the real Shen." said "Shen" angrily.

"You can try and kill me if you want to. But you won't gain a thing from it." the Soothsayer wasn't afraid of death, let alone from an impostor with anger issues.

"Of course I don't aim to kill you. I want you and your friends to spread the news, that Lord Shen has returned and soon he'll achieve his revenge on the Panda that thwarted him." said "Shen" as his eyes twiched in anger.

"Like I'd be an accomplice to your plans, Shen or whatever you are." Croc said in anger.

But the Soothsayer just calmly drank from her tea. "Very well, we'll tell him." the Soothsayer took a look at "Shen" who smirked at her response. "That an impostor claiming to be Shen is walking around."

"Why you?" "Shen" almost threw a knife at the goat for her defiance but restrained himself for the sake of not making a mess or a martyr out of the Soothsayer and Croc and instead ran off with one last warning. "Do heed my word or my new army will reduce Gongmen to rubble." the Soothsayer wasn't unnerved by it but knew fully well it was a genuine threat that wouldn't end well for Gongmen.

"We must warn the Jade Palace." Croc said nervously. "They'll take care of this." Just as he prepared to send a messenger, a goat worker arrived in a rush escorted by the guards.

"I got a message, for Master Croc, send it to the Jade Palace at once." the goat worker ran towards Croc.

"What's it? What happened?" asked Croc, this couldn't be good at all.

"It's Tai Lung, he's returned! And he wants to challenge the Dragon Warrior." said the goat worker, almost fainting from strain and fear.

"No way, he's dead but-" Croc soon made a connection between the recent appearance of "Shen" and realized that something much worse than the return of both terrifying figures was at hand.

"You see, Master Croc, that wasn't Shen. But we must warn the Palace anyway, who we saw is not like Shen, he will destroy Gongmen without a single doubt." she said as she calmly adviced the master to keep the others informed.

"Very well, relay this to the Jade Palace. Tai Lung has returned. And Lord Shen as well." Croc said to a goose messenger, the messenger was trembling too but braved on and moved to find the Valley of Peace. "Please Dragon Warrior, we need your help." Croc thought to himself.

As the goose messenger left, the hooded figure looked at him leaving and began following. "Soon, I'll find this... Jade Palace. Wonder what I can take from it." the figure kept on their path without stop, luckily that sucker would be a good unwitting guide.

Notes:

If you didn't know, the idea of the wedding ceremonial dress came from an unused concept in the Artbook of the third film where apparently Mei Mei would've personally gifted Tigress the dress upon noticing her feelings for Po and heavily implied mutual feelings while giving up her one-sided feelings. I also figured Ping and Li would be pretty appropriate gift-givers here, as well as it still being on Mei Mei's behalf to push Po and Tigress together.

Also decided to reintroduce the other villains' tales earlier so confusion would run rampant. And I figured the Soothsayer would immediately go "That's not my baby!" on Chameleon!Shen so that's a bit of cuteness for a tense moment.

Chapter 4: Shifu's Last Day

Summary:

Po and the Five meet back up with Shifu, but what he tells them puts their expectations of the future in doubt. And soon Po might have to give up the title of Dragon Warrior in preparation for his new role.

Notes:

Fourth chapter and here comes the bits with more compliance to the fourth film. But do not worry, Shifu won't be written out for most of this fic.

Po reached the place of the Sacred Peach Tree, he fondly remembered his first proper meeting with Oogway here, where the turtle gave him advice that while not too impactful at first, soon resonated in his later adventures. He spotted Shifu meditating, with his eyes closed as he didn't utter a word, fearful of waking him up Po tip-toed while watching out for any possibility of startling his former master. However, as soon as he was a few feet away from Shifu, the latter talked to him.

"Welcome back, Dragon Warrior." Po was startled and almost screamed, to Shifu's amusement.

"Whoa, Master Shifu, I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt your inner peace thingy session." Po said while collecting himself after the scare.

"Worry not, I knew you'd be here today." Shifu replied calmly as he got up and grabbed his staff.

"Oh so the universe told you?!" Po said exctitedly.

"No, I got the message from some messengers." Shifu remarked, a few days ago many messengers of various lands told him of Po and the Furious Five's return so he figured they'd come back any time soon.

"Oh right, I guess I should've expected that our return will be at least relayed to you." Po said in embarrassment.

"Well, where are the other Five?" Shifu asked calmly.

"They were maintaining the training hall. We just didn't expect you to not be there. Or even training somebody." Po hoped he didn't offend Shifu by remarking his observations.

"Po, I trained quite a group of talented warriors a while ago. In fact, I've been scouting out successors to the Dragon Warrior title." Shifu began to walk towards the Hall, inviting Po to follow.

"Alright that's a cool thi- Wait. SUCCESORS!?!" Po couldn't believe what he'd heard. "PLEASE TELL ME I'M NOT SECRETLY DYING FROM USING THE CHI STAFF AND SKADOOSHING PEOPLE, SHIFU, I HAVE SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR!" dramatic as usual, the Panda was oblivious to Shifu growing annoyed but the latter pulled himself together. Some things just never changed.

"You' re not dying, you... Dragon Warrior. However, I'll tell you the full story once everyone is at the Hall." Shifu kept going and hope Po wouldn't slow down.

"Oh sorry, erm, okay let's go." Po just sheepishly looked around to see if no one had heard or seen them and kept going.

Ultimately, they did find the others after they had tidied up the place, the Five bowed to Shifu, while no longer their master by title, they still held him in higher esteem than most others as the Spiritual Leader Shifu was the highest authority of the Palace, for a while the position had been empty while Shifu sorted out his own mind and later prepared to leave Po in charge of the training at the Jade Palace.

"Welcome back, Furious Five, it's been a while since we last saw each other." Shifu said looking over his five former students.

"It's is nice to see you again, Shifu." Tigress as usual led the others in their meetings, she did notice Po besides Shifu looking worried and she had to admit to herself it did worry her a bit too.

"As you all know, I've been in the Jade Palace as Master and now Spiritual Leader for a long time." Shifu paced around so all of the Masters would hear him well. "But now, my time is over. And thus, I am announcing my full retirement from both Kung Fu and the Spiritual Leader position."

"WHAT?!" Po shouted. Caught off-guard, Shifu looked at them a bit startled while the other Five had more subdued reactions.

"Wait, Shifu, you really are retiring, why?" Monkey spoke up first this time, he did know this day would come eventually but it seemed so much sooner than he had envisioned.

"Are you feeling well? Everything fine with your health?" Crane followed as he checked outwardly to see if Shifu had some sort of problem or health issue but saw nothing.

"We just came back and you're retiring?" Viper was concerned, too, and asked Shifu if he was fine.

"Are you sure about this, Shifu?" Mantis tried to see if Shifu was absolutely sure about this, the last time with Po it was almost disastrous but he pulled through and they had something to fall back on.

"But who will become the Spiritual Leader in your place?" Tigress asked, feeling sad that Shifu was truly going to leave behind Kung Fu. She had just been gripping with her past and relationship with Shifu and this didn't help matters.

"I see you all have doubts, but do not worry. I've deliberated this choice for years, I will not live forever, and I won't last long in capable shape, someone has to take up the reins from the old generation so the new can thrive but I am absolutely good in health of body and mind. And as for the one who shall take my place, that will be Po." Shifu glanced at the soon-to-be-former Dragon Warrior and Grand Master who was shocked to hear of this.

"Wait, me? Again?" Po remembed when he was made Grand Master of the Jade Palace but now the Spiritual Leader of the Valley. Oh, his luck, now he was beating himself up mentally for thinking of the higher-than-now position he believed he could have. "But I can't lead like Oogway or you did. I can kick butt and train others to kick butt, I'm not a philosphy guy!" Po hoped to dissuade Shifu with it but the master's stance was unchanged.

"You will learn Po, just as you learned Kung Fu and being a true Master. There is nothing that will change this decision of mine." Shifu made it clear that his say in this matter was final and absolute. 

"But that means Po will have to give up the Dragon Warrior title." Tigress said concerned, she wasn't feeling happy with remarking that, to Po the Dragon Warrior title was everything, it was the title that brought him the respect and balance he so much wanted but now he was about to give it up for good.

"All things come to an end, Tigress, for all us. Even Oogway's time to leave eventually came. And so has mine." Shifu walked over to Po. "You may not be the Dragon Warrior anymore but that doesn't make you less the master. And you'd still choose your successor, someone worthy of the title and-"

"Alright, Tigress I choose you!" Po pointed a finger at Tigress, he knew she had wanted the title for so long given her desire to impress Shifu. "From this day forth, you won't be just a crouching tigress but also a hidden dragon." he tried a dramatic speech as he passed the torch... Well, tried to.

"I don't think I have earned that title, Po, sorry." she said, maybe when Po first arrived she'd have accepted it but now, the title meant not much to her.

"Wait, what?! Okay, okay I got precipitated and thus Monkey shall be it!" Po announced in a very glorious fashion but was shut down as quickly.

"I too have to pass on it, Po." Monkey just calmly looked at the others and knew Po would ask them the same thing and end the same way.

"Why me? Mantis?" Mantis made a negating gesture. "Crane." Crane didn't even have to move to express that he would not take the title as he just looked at Po. "Viper?" the ever nice snake did take time to respond.

"Sorry Po, but I don't think I want it either. I wouldn't handle that kind of merit well, heh."

"C'mon guys, one of you is worthy and I know it." Po wasn't able to continue before Shifu called to his attention by coughing.

"Ahem, Po, if they don't want the title we'll just look through the candidates I've scouted out. We'll hold a ceremony to see the competition. Hope to see you there." With that Shifu walked towards the Palace Arena, the location where the Dragon Warrior choosing competition held by Oogway once took place, it was still the most soul-crushingly, mind-numbing, hope-shattering event in his life but nonetheless one he knew now was necessary. He had faith in Po choosing his successor well as Oogway did.

"Guys, you think we can excuse ourselves out. Just for this one time?" Po said rather gloomily.

"We can't Po." Tigress replied bluntly.

"It really is over." Crane said as he looked down.

"I have faith you'll choose well, Po." Viper smiled at him.

"Right, I do wonder if the next Dragon Warrior will be big or small." Monkey said to Mantis. "I hope they're small, I am getting a bit lonely being the small guy here."

"We'll see you at the ceremony later, Po, you'll be fine." said Tigress as she and the others moved out to be at the Arena earlier, wanting Po to have some alone time to reflect. Po just sighed as he begrudgingly accepted what was coming. "But what if I can't lead, what if I just mess up and get branded a criminal across China? I'd have to hide my face and live off this universe dew or something." As he took a last look at the Palace, he sighed again and walked towards the ceremony. Oh, he was hoping the ceremony would get interrupted, he looked at the sky to see if there were clouds but nothing was up there to his frustration. He resigned to walking there, once he had reached the place he saw both his dads with a noodle cart ready to sell.

"We'll sell noodles like never before. Even if Po stops being the Dragon Warrior he'll now be the Spiritual Leader, we'll be rich with our new influence!" Ping said excitedly as he seemed oblivious to Li gasping for air.

"Yes... Huff... We... Huff... Will... Huff... Sell... Ugh, stairs." Li collapsed on the groun to catch his breathe as Ping looked over him.

"Get up soon, Li, or we'll be left out like Po and I last time." he worriedly looked at the people entering the Arena, and hoped that this time they'd make it in time. Dads of the Dragon Warrior or not, rules were rules.

"It's all like those years ago." Po thought watching amused as Li and Ping went through the same dilemma of years ago though hoped they'd make in time still, he was actually a bit comforted by this now remembering the passing of the torch more fondly, though still doubtful and worried about his own future he breathed in. "Inner Peace, inner peace". He then saw the Five the and Shifu in the same positions Oogway and Shifu were back then, preceding the ceremony of the choosing. The candidates had yet to show up, but Po was hoping they'd be awesome if nothing else. Unknown to him, the hooded figure from much earlier was among the crowd of visitors and they were pleased about the stands being filled, that meant that not much presence would be had elsewhere in the Valley of Peace, the ideal time to rob something of value, careful not to alarm the Kung Fu masters or any civilian they sneaked off to the famed Hall of Heroes, where bountiful treasures awaited. "It's almost time, soon the pieces shall fall in place."

Meanwhile once he'd reached the Palace Arena, Po prepared for the ceremony as Shifu invited him to take a seat. "Greetings, Po, now with you we'll commence the ceremony." But before Shifu could start, Ping and Li rushed in, exhausted.

"Wait, room for the Dragon Warrior's dads." Ping then looked at Li, crawling on the ground. "We offer noodles on discount, huff, panda asthma, excuse me. I think I vomited on the way up." Ping patted his back.

"It's okay, Li, Po did too." Shifu rolled his eyes and decided to just silently signal them to behave and sit with the other civilians.

"Well, with those last guests, we finally begin the ceremony." a goose rang the gong announcing the beginning. "Now, for the candidates!" And thus they appeared, a large ram who screamed upon entering, a water monitor wielding a spear, a rabbit who specialized in kicks, an elephant with a mace and a pig dressed like Po (Panda Pig) "Skeedoosh." he said. Po was flattered if nothing else.

"Now, begin the demonstration!" Shifu ordered. First was the elephant who expertly used his mace to knock away wooden planks thrown at him, utilizing his legs and trunk in conjunction to demolish his obstacles, once he finished reducing the planks to mere dust he bowed. Po wowed and clapped for him. 

"Looks promising." said Tigress.

"Next!" Shifu shouted as the water monitor came in, she used her spear to cross through an obstacle course she set up, filled with spikes and firey rings, with a shout she got past the obstacles without once touching the ground until she reached the end. 

"Oh that's good, if I were Po that'll be my pick." Monkey said impressed as well.

Next the rabbit used his speed and kicks to zip around the place, and even knocked a stone into the air before kicking it into the horizon.

"That's awesome." Viper said

The ram candidate smashed rocks with his head at all angles, screaming each time.

"Whoo, that was impressive. I'd get a headache if I was him." Mantis remarked.

Finally, Panda Pig came out with fireworks and expertly knocked them with his reflexes, creating a spectacle of sparkles everywhere that got the audience roaring in cheers.

"He... Could do." Tigress couldn't help but not be impressed herself.

"Well then, now it's Po's turn to choose his successor. Who shall become the next Dragon Warrior?" Shifu said as he looked over to Po, so he'd choose the next bearer of the title.

"Oh no, what'd I do? I will fail and suck at this!" Po's inner thoughts ran wild as he looked over the candidates and was sweating intensely, he couldn't choose well at this moment. The Five noticed his distress but were unsure if to speak up to Shifu and everyone esle about it, right now wouldn't be the moment. As all tension was about to break loose, Po pointed his finger at the sky first and then tried to move it to one of the candidates, but trembled the whole way before he finally landed on... "The Hall of Heroes? No!" Po then moved his finger towards... Himself!

"Wait a minute, I am the Dragon Warrior." Po shouted excitedly, the Five facepalming and Shifu once again flabbergasted just stared in incredibility. The crowd was silent as were the candidates... Until they all began clapping and cheering. "Dragon Warrior! Dragon Warrior! We Love you Po!" shouted multiple people, including a group of fangirls. The candidates were initially bummed but joined in on the cheering. Po got up as the celebration happened. Shifu, was not very happy about this.

"Po, you cannot do that. You were supposed to pass the torch on!" the old master tried to get at him as Po walked towards the crowd but his voice was drowned out. "Po!"

"Of course he did that." Tigress said, she was a bit embarrassed but amused.

"I knew that would happen." Crane said, also amused if unimpressed.

"Yeah, Shifu kinda rushed this whole thing." Viper said.

"But where is Po going?" Mantis asked.

Po used the chance to slip out and go towards the Hall of Heroes to hide from Shifu for a while. Once there, he sat down in the entrance and tried to have a moment of inner peace, to think of what to do next.

"Inner Peace. Inner Peace. I am one with the Universe." He said as he remembered his training to reach such a state, thinking back of his past years he was able to calm down and made a question for the Universe. "Great sacred Universe, tell me who is bodacious enough for the Dragon Warrior title. Who shall be the next awesome one?"

Petals of the Sacred Peach Tree then showed up, flowing in an orderly fashion. "Wow, Universe you came!" The petals then moved upwards and towards one of the Hall's second floor windows. Po squinted his eyes and noticed a hooded figure breaking in. "What?! Hey, stop that!" But he wasn't heard as the figure snuck in and ran inside.

"Oh no, you don't!" Po ran off to stop this thief.

As Shifu growled while not finding Po, suddenly a goose messenger arrived in a panic. "I have news for Master Shifu, huff, urgent news!" Shifu intercepted the message and calmed down to hear the messenger out. "What is it?!"

"It's, it's Tai Lung! He's returned" said the messenger. Shifu froze for a second and had flashbacks to his and Tai Lung's whole life and fight.

"What, no, it cannot be he's dead." Shifu said in denial of this being a possibility.

"And not jus that, Lord Shen is back too." the messenger said in-between breathes. The Five had arrived at this time and were shocked to hear both news. Then, a third messenger came in too. "Urgent message, Kai the Collector returned!"

 "What is this?" Tigress asked legitimately scared of the three dreadful villains' return.

"We... Must find Po. Now!" Shifu shouted as everyone scrambled to search for him, unaware of him being in the Hall of Heroes. Something was amiss and Po needed to know. Ping and Li too were looking for Po.

"Po!" Ping shouted looking over the crowd of people leaving the Arena.

"Son!" Li exclaimed as he didn't see Po among the other masters.

Notes:

And Kai returned too. And soon we might see the little fox thief wreak havoc on Po's life. As well as where "Kai" attacked!

Chapter 5: The Thief and the Dragon Warrior

Summary:

Po takes on the mysterious thief, while Shifu and the others rush to find him. Far away, the Chameleon begins her plot to take over the world, all while a escaping prisoner of hers makes their way to the Valley of Peace.

Po snuck inside the Hall and looked around to see the thief, now wielding the Chi Staff. For now, everything was in its place but he feared it wouldn't be that way for long. The thief was hidden in the shadows, avoiding making a sound or being seen.

"Come out, pal, I won't harm you too much if you willingly give up your stealing operation, I promise." As he turned to the ceiling to see if the thief was still up there, he failed to notice the thief grabbing a hammer and storing it, only finding out after turning around. "Oh no, the others are gonna kill me!" he then noticed even more objects were stolen while he panicked. "Seriously? Show yourself thief!" he then closed his eyes to hear the footsteps around the place and located her trying to take the Dragon Scroll, now placed in a pedestal inside the Hall.

"Got ya!" Po leaped at the thief who dodged swiftly, causing Po to hit the ground. "Yeowch, that hurt but it was good." the thief got on guard as they prepared to fight Po. "I see you're not much of a words person, let's go!" the thief had greatly underestimated Po and was sooner than later overpowered and outclassed by their foe, they had to switch tactics to more pragmatic means if they were to get out of there. They grabbed the Sword of Heroes and threw it at Po alongside other bladed weapons, but Po reflected them all and even stuck the Blade into the ground. "Haha!" he then followed up by running up and ramming the thief who was thrown into a pedestal with the Urn of Whispering Warriors, almost knocking it, both Po and the thief rushed to try and keep it from collapsing.

"Be careful, that Urn contains the lost souls of the Tenshu Army!" however their efforts were in vain as it fell and broke, letting multiple spirits out.

"Why do you even have that thing!" the thief said as they almost stepped into the pieces. Unfortunately for them they gave away their gender with this.

"Okay, now I know you're a girl so I can be not so vague about your identity. Unhand those mystical weps, thief lady." Po said as he surprised to find out more about his smaller foe's identity.

"In your dreams, besides why are you even here?"

"I'm a Master of Kung Fu! For your information." Po was confident about this.

"Really? I thought a real master of Kung Fu would be less... tubby." said the thief snarking at him.

"Haha, never heard that one before." Po said as he resumed the fighting after the short snark session but this time the thief was far more aggressive, dropping a bottle of oil she carried on the ground to trip Po, before pushing him towards the center, she was amused at seeing him trip trying to get up and reach her.

"Do you need help, little panda fighter?" she took her chance to grab the Chi Staff as Po tripped once more and prepared to run off. "Thanks for the souvenir, these will sell well on the illegal market." as she tried to make her way out, Po decided to go all-out for real.

"Well, don't blame me for what's about to happen. Hyah!" He rushed with help from the oil on the ground and reached the thief, using his arm to trip her, and knocking off her hood in the process, revealing her to be a gray corsac fox. "Aha, now feel ready to feel the thunder!" as he said this he grabbed two empty pedestals and threw them at the entrance, preventing her from getting out there.

"Meh, I'll just run out through the roof." the thief said unimpressed as she got ready to climb the walls and leap out, but Po prevented her as he grabbed her leg and held her tightly to avoid her escape.

"Oh no, you don't!" the thief couldn't break free until she unveiled a chain hidden in her cloak and used her legs to throw it at Po, who was caught off guard by the sudden attack and fell down again.

"Well, that does it, goodbye Panda." she laughed as she was ready to run out, but Po just smirked and got ready to throw the chain at her, knocking her down as she tried to leap again. This time, Po took the chance to tie all her limbs and leave one link of chain to hold her up. "Ugh, seriously!?"

"Yeah! You've been beat by the Dragon Warrior, consider it a honor." Po said confidently as he stood victorious. "Now give me that stuff you stole back." as he shaked her causing her to drop her bag of stolen goods.

"Wait, you are the Dragon Warrior?" the thief asked concerned.

"What, is it that I am even more awesome in person than in legends?" Po said smiling as he started rummaging her bag and taking out the stolen artifacts.

"No, it's because you seemed far more bumbling than someone of your reputation." the thief smiled with her statement, but Po just frowned.

"Well, miss rude thief, I don't know your name, but I'll do soon because you'll be going to jail and filing your profile!" Po said to the thief who just smirked.

"Oh no, jail, how terrible, anything but that!" the thief said in a faked distressed tone. "And name's Zhen." she added noncalantly.

"Zhen? Well, Zhen, your time of judgment will co-" Po shouted before the doors of the Hall were busted open. "Po!" it was Shifu, accompanied by the Furious Five and Po's dads. "Come... Tomorrow, heh? Hello guys, I... stopped this thief right here, with minimal damage." Po tried to hide the mess both made in their brawl.

"I'd hate to see maximum damage then." said Crane.

"Enough of this, Po, we need to talk!" Shifu said angrily.

"C'mon, at least let me jail Zhen here first." Po said

"Hey, what's with the first-name basis, you think we're friends now?" Zhen said, expecting Po to be less direct with her name.

"Po, we can send her to jail later, first you listen to me. This is urgent." Shifu said growing more worried and angry.

"Oh no, the squirrel's getting angry." Zhen said.

"I am not a squirrel." Shifu said.

"I'll be honest, I'm not so sure what he is." Po remarked confused.

"I'm a red panda." Shifu said annoyed.

"Oh, I never knew sorry. Erm, what was that urgent thing you wanted to tell me?" Po dropped the chained-up Zhen to the ground before Tigress picked her up.

"Po. Tai Lung, Lord Shen and Kai, have all returned." Shifu said with notable worry in his voice.

"What?! All three, but how?" Po asked seriously, all of sudden his fun mood was gone. Zhen was curious about it, especially since she knew from tales that the Dragon Warrior beat Tai Lung, no easy feat and their names almost made his personality change to the opposite of what she'd seen.

"We don't know, but they've been terrorizing and killing innocents across China. Gongmen City, the Panda Village, the Northern Mountains, Wankun Village, Muchang Township, even the Imperial City of China all have been terrorized if not destroyed by them." Shifu said relaying the full message he and the Five got.

"No way, are the other pandas safe?" Po asked knowing that Kai destroying the Village in revenge was a possibility.

"Luckily, yes, all Kai did was to ask for you to meet him in person." Shifu paused before continuing. "Tai Lung and Shen did the same. They all said that they had great armies on the ready to destroy all of China and beyond. We must stop them now."

"Very well, then, let's go." Po ran off a bit before stopping and returning. "But where?"

"That's the hard part, no indications of their whereabouts or a base were told. We can only trace their routes based on the populations they attacked." Shifu answered.

"How can we be sure this is not a trick then, Shifu?" Tigress asked.

"Because the many messengers who came were definitely not lying. I saw it in their eyes. The look of genuine fear. And I had a vision when I got one of the messages." Shifu explained his vision to them.

The pandas of the village were enjoying their life, though Li Shan and some like Bao and Lei Lei left, the rest were still there. Mei Mei was looking at a painting of Po and Tigress she made, imagining a wedding between the two, when she abandoned her feelings for Po she then became excited to push him and Tigress together. Granny was taking a nap while Dim and Sum were conversing with Big Fun.

As the peace appeared to be unchanged, from the skies dropped Kai, he had suddenly appeared before the Panda Village to terrorize its inhabitants as he did years ago.

"Hello everyone, it's me Kai!" the pandas who saw him ran for safety, and he chuckled at their fear, Mei Mei reached for her nuchucks while the pandas who did not forget their training also stayed on guard. "Hmm, fancy new places you've made, little pandas." he growled at the pandas who hid in fear, the children there crying in fear. Kai then approached Dim and Sum, and without harming them gave them an instruction. "Look, little panda, do as I say and I'll spare your life. Tell that Dragon Warrior that General Kai. Has. RETURNED!" the panda trembled in fear but braved on. 

"We'll tell him, you maniac, he will defeat you." Dim said in defiance, albeit still fearing retribution. Kai stared at him for a prolonged amout of time but just chuckled and prepared to leave before leaving one last message.

"Oh and make sure his little band of friends come with him, or else I'll destroy this village and all others in China at once!" he shouted as he summoned a Jade Blade and smashed down a giant boulder to show he mant business.

Sum then replied with confusion. "B-But where will you be?"

"All you have to do is make sure our meeting is well set to happen, I'll find him in due time once he leaves that Jade Palace of his. It's a destiny thing, you'll get when you're older" Kai didn't say more as he rushed away back to "his" lair, laughing as "his" eyes became reptilian for a split second. The other Pandas then prepared to relay this message to the Jade Palace and most importantly, Po.

Once he'd finished, the others now knew it couldn't just be a mere lie it all was real. "That sounds bad, we need to get going now!" Po said seriously.

"Uh, Po, don't you got to sort out some Dragon Warrior and thief stuff first, Zhen here is starting to try and bite us." said Crane in concern as Zhen tried to ineffectively lunge at Tigress who was simply unimpressed.

"Very well, I'm sending her to jail then we get moving to follow the trail of these villains." Po remarked as he grabbed Zhen who simply stopped biting and smirked as she had an idea.

"But are you just going to blindly run after them? Do you even have a plan?" Zhen asked mockingly.

"Uh, yeah, we go out, we kick their butts I Skadoosh them again with the Chi Staff or the Wuxi Finger Hold whichever works." Po said awkwardly calming down as he did indeed was about to make everyone rush without thinking.

"If all these warlords are converging for a single purpose, that means they are being led by a fourth party. And there's only one person who can be behind this." Zhen said gaining a serious yet manipulative tone.

"Oh, do tell." Po replied to her.

"What are you even saying?" asked Tigress angrily not being confident about this.

"She's a fearsome enchantress and warlock, one on a league of her own settled in the most distant borders of China. The Chameleon" everyone but Shifu was unreactive, but the latter did panic for a bit remembering the name but composed himself.

"So, her name is the Chameleon, where is she? And what is her goal with these bad guys?" Po asked interested in more.

"She resides in Juniper City, a large, complex city filled with the worst criminal scum of China. You wouldn't last a day there. I grew up there under her tyranny, always surrendering my treasures to her. That's why I came here." Zhen said mocking Po then explaining her motives a bit. "And if she is reviving those guys, she likely wants to take over China and the world. And kill you guys so you won't bother her. I understand that feeling well myself."

"Well, that's all we need, Po send her to jail now." Shifu said stoically.

"But Shifu he knows where we can find the Chameleon the likely source of all these problems." Po replied now convinced Zhen had to come with them.

"No, Po, we will not work with a criminal like her. We already know the location there's nothing else she can tell us that'll be useful." Shifu was stern about his decision until Monkey butted in.

"Hey, I was a criminal too, our alternative is to run in and get lost looking for the terrible trio and their boss. If she knows that Chameleon she may know how to safely get to her" he said as he remembered his own less-than-stellar origins and that Zhen could be of use in what they may not know.

"It's convincing we could do it with her." Viper added. "Yeah, we can just subdue her if she gets too rowdy for our liking. Wouldn't be hard." Mantis continued. "I kind of support this and not at the same time, Tigress?" Crane kept the convo going. "Hmm, I often may be distrustful of Po's advice, but if he feels this is the most logical choice then let's do it his way. It hasn't failed us before, hasn't it? Besides, we can crush her if she dares sell us out." Tigress growled at Zhen, who's smug persona broke for a second as she had a moment of fear before recomposing herself.

"Furious Five, what are you-" Shifu tried to decline their own opinions but Tigress interrupted him allowing him to simmer down a bit, he then continued talking. "How do we know she won't betray us at the first chance and get us lost?"

"Because I hate the Chameleon and I wish to be free from her grip on the city to do as many crimes as a I please, help me and I won't ever bother you again." Zhen replied to Shifu. The other Five were a bit unsure again but figured a lead however vague was better than nothing and held up their opinions on the matter.

"Well, they are somewhat on board. You know we can't do this without her unwilling-without-a-cause help. We'd be running in circles before we even have a clue of where to go." Po said holding up Zhen who smugly smirked at Shifu. "And Zhen, if you help us, we'll take years off your sentence is that good?"

"Hmm, yeah I'm in. I'll break out of there anyway. You see that? Little raccoon, I am your best bet to win." she said to annoy Shifu further.

"He's a red panda, Zhen!" Po said in concern, Zhen just giggled.

"Why is it always like this?" Shifu muttered under his breath but sighed and accepted it. "Fair enough, Dragon Warrior, but there's one more thing before we can depart."

Po deduced what it was about, his recent bailing out on the ceremony. "Oh right the ceremony, can't we save China and then do this whole routine properly. And how about we use the test of the Dragon Scroll next time?!" Po asked excitedly.

"It's not that simple with the Scroll, Po, the next warrior has to be worthy and you rejected all our candidates." Shifu said angrily. However, Tigress made one observation about the recent incident and Po's own choosing.

"But, Master Shifu, wasn't Po chosen by Oogway not for his Kung Fu skills? But other merits even I may not understand them still to this day" For once Shifu had nothing to come back with. Po was shocked himself that Tigress of all people took initiative in defending him and his choices.

"Yeah, maybe Po just needs time and the proper successor will show up!" Viper said.

"Anyone else got a different opinion?" asked Tigress to the other Five who didn't deny it and silently agreed with her.

Shifu gave up on his attempts to find the successor for now and admitted defeat. "Well then, let's head to this Juniper City."

"Wait, 'let's'? Master Shifu, you're coming with us?!" Po asked excitedly.

"I know I should not involve myself, but Tai Lung is a sin of my past I must make amends with." Shifu said sadly.

"But you already achieved inner peace!" Po replied, worried his former master would get himself killed by his pupil as it almost happened so long ago.

"Shifu, do not do this." Tigress said in concern. "You'll get killed!" added Monkey.

"Not this time, I won't. I will face and defeat Tai Lung myself. And I won't take any other route." Shifu said sternly.

"But Master Shif-" Po tried to dissuade him one last time.

"I am not your master anymore, Po! I must embark on this journey as my last fight. We'll be waiting for you later to come with us." Shifu said gloomily as he walked to get supplies for the travel. "I expect all of you to be ready for our journey." everyone there, even Zhen despite her limited knowledge of them, was concerned for Shifu, the masters knowing how personal this issue was and how much he wished to atone for what he created in Tai Lung.

"Shifu..." said Tigress with a low voice as the old maste walked away. "Po, I hope your plan works." she said before moving along to get ready as well, the other masters moved on ahead after Po handed them Zhen to guard.

"Make sure to keep her watched at all times, if she slips out we'll be in trouble. I'll put the stuff in the Hall back in place for now." Po replied as the others began leaving, with Zhen still smiling as she was carried away by Tigress. Once they did move along Po finally had a chance to talk with Ping and Li who had stayed back the whole time.

"Son, we were worried you exiled yourself in shame!" Ping said. "I cannot believe they would actually make you give up your Dragon Warrior title like that! Sorry for capitalizing on the ocassion, son."

"It's all good, dad." Po said, already expecting Ping to behave like this.

"Right, I was fearing you were gone again. And that can't be good, if my old village is in danger then you are too. Everyone!" Li also said.

"Thanks for the concern dads, but this time I can't be here for too long. I gotta clean up this mess quick and then take everyone to Juniper City to stop this Chamaleon." Po said as he grabbed the stolen artifacts and put them back in place.

"But Po, can you actually survive against those three and that Chameleon?" Ping asked. "They're coming for the Panda Village too we must warn them now!" Li continued. However, Po shut them both.

"We'll send messengers for that to order them to find a hiding place, but I have no time for your overt concerns about this situation, dads, I must save China and the world. And now Shifu is risking his life, he might die and it will be on me for not standing up to him. And he wants me to be the Spiritual Leader but I can't impart wisdom." Po said in an outburst of stress and fear-induced anger.

"Didn't you turn a bunch of pandas who never trained a day in their lives into capable warriors, son?" Li asked calmly.

"Yeah, I did that." Po said a bit gloomy.

"And didn't you prove many masters of Kung Fu wrong about their views on you many times?" Ping continued with confidence.

"I did that before, yeah, but this is different. We're in serious trouble with all these returning fiends! And I can take them but the others? I can't guide them to victory like this" Po continued. "I'm not Oogway." 

Ping and Li put hands on their son's shoulders, comforting him. "Look Po, the hardest part of all this is change. You've been comfortable doing new things of your own volition because you've expected them to happen someday. But now you're seeing how responsibilities can come crashing down like a fireball." Ping started. "When I moved from my village to here to be with Ping and you, I was afraid too, I knew nobody here and it all was unfamiliar to me, I was here once before too but I left back as soon as I found you, but now we're all together in here and I've adapted." Li was next to talk and looked at his husband with loving eyes.

"Okay, I'll admit that calms me down a bit. But I'll need you two to stay here and guard the Valley while I'm away and try to find those warriors we saw at the meetings they'll be happy to supplant me and my friends for a while as protectors of the innocent." Po ran off after putting the last artifacts back in place, preparing to ready himself for the journey ahead. Ping and Li exchanged concerned looks and were once more worried about their son's survival.

"Inner peace, Po, inner peace." Po said to himself as he ran. "I can do this, I will do this."

Meanwhile in Juniper City's center, a large temple filled with komodo dragon, water monitor and snapping turtle guards was seen. Two guard scouts sent away earlier came about, reporting their findings, once they were let in they walked over the entrance and kept going to the depths of the Temple, filled with reptilian imagery and tributes to the Chameleon, they made their way to their boss, who was calmly chanting a spell in the center of her lair, filled with mystical cages on its catacombs, water was heard dripping from its ancient tunnels, adding to the terrifying feeling of the place.

"Boss, the messages have reached the Valley of Peace!" said the komodo dragon, Larry. "Those fools will be here soon."

"Excellent work, Kyle, you have earned a reward from your mother." she said tossing him a bag filled with food, which he ravenously devoured. She then turned to the water monitor soldier, Jerry. "As for you, have your fill too." she threw another bag and her minion began eating it.

As she began to cast her spell, she called her guards. "My children, gather around!" soon from the catacombs a part of her army emerged in a rush. "Good boys, now witness the true return of China's most infamous fiend, Tai Lung!" with great struggle she cast her spell, straining herself greatly once the portal to the Spirit Realm was opened and the real Tai Lung floated down before her. "Greetings Master Tai Lung, I'm a big fan of your work."

Tai Lung looked at her in confusion. "Who are you, and why did you summon me?" the Chameleon paced around him, struggling to walk after the energy she used for her spell. 

"Name's the Chameleon, the most powerful sorceress on the world. And, my dear Tai Lung, I have a proposition for you. We both want revenge on the masters of Kung Fu, they rejected you as they did me. I wanted to see if we could forge an alliance to destroy them."

Tai Lung was intrigued but questioned her, feeling something was amiss in the barebones offer. "What are your terms?" he looked around at her army, pointing their weapons at him, including crossbows. "Nice weaponry you got, but do answer my question."

"Oh, nothing big, just your Kung Fu, with it I shall enact revenge for both of us." Tai Lung laughed at her request with the Chameleon patiently waiting for the inevitable confrontation.

"You are mistaken if you think I'll let you." Tai Lung then rushed to attack the guards, easily blocking the crossbow arrows with slab pieces from the ground and jumping towards the ranged attackers, knocking them out and throwing many to the ground until they knocked the others over. "Hmm, your army is a little more disappointing than I expected." However he saw the Chameleon nowhere and growled, as he looked around a komodo dragon guard rose up and attacked, but to Tai Lung's surprise this one did fight back, punching him into a wall but he returned the favor, the guard followed with a flurry of kicks and a headbutt briefly pushing Tai Lung back.  Eventually gaining the upper hand, Tai Lung used his fearsome never technique and hit the guard, approaching it with intent to finish him off. "You were braver than most who-"

He didn't have time to finish as the guard revealed himself to actually be the Chameleon who shot her tongue at him and began draining his Kung Fu and Chi, Tai Lung felt weakened but was able to free himself from her grasp before she could take it all from him. He gasped for air while growling. "You were certainly a great warrior, I thank you for the demonstration, that shall be your last." She changed forms into Tai Lung's own, angering the snow leopard who went to fight his opponent but was swiftly overpowered after trying to fistfight, feeling his strength and skill leaving him. The transformed Chameleon then used his own nerve technique which Tai Lung barely got time to somewhat block to avoid being fully paralyzed.

"What, have you done to me?!" he asked in anger.

"Oh, your Kung Fu is now mine, darling.  We could've done it the nice way, but now it's time to return to the Spirit Realm. For good!" suddenly more soldiers emerged with crossbows, for the first time in his life Tai Lung was the one running from an army as he attempted to escape, swiftly doging a cage they tried to drop on him, he spotted an exit in one of the upper levels and though struggling greatly, made it all the way up and ran through the guards, beating any who came in his path albeit with great difficulty, he kept going and going until he was out of the temple and growled as he saw the guards chasing him, with a pair of snapping turtles trying to drop and crush him, with no other options he leapt from the cliff into the ground below, grabbing onto any surfaces he could to slow down his fall until he was out of sight, the guards growled at his escape but then fearfully went on to report their failure.

"Mother, he escaped, we apologize." said one of the snapping turtles.

"Normally you'd be severely punished but for now I'm satisfied with what I got." she then briefly fell to her knees catching her breath. "Those masters better be here soon, or all I've worked for will fall apart!" the guards helped her up to her feet as she saw her cages and smirked. "They soon will come to me and once they do, they'll be gone. Call for the crime bosses, we need to talk" the two snapping guards roared to their comrades to gather all the criminals they were affiliated with for an importating meeting, the Chameleon would soon request their presence to discuss the next plan of action.

Notes:

And Tai Lung is back, decided to give the Chameleon a more intimidating first scene than "push some guy downstairs" that's Shifu-levels of evil :p

Chapter 6: Journey to Juniper

Summary:

Po and his allies begin their travels to Juniper, will Zhen's advice and presence be helpful or will she doom them to greater failure? In the meantime, the Chameleon gathers the criminals under her rule with specific orders.

Notes:

Sorry for the delay, the past chapters back-to-back burnt me out but I am back.

Shifu and the others were preparing themselves for the travel to Juniper. Zhen was currently relaxing as they waited for Po, watching her nails in case they were chipped or damaged from her recent brawl. She looked at the whole group and did feel a bit of pity for Shifu as the whole thing had stressed him out. The Five looked at Shifu.

"Shifu, you don't really need to do this." Tigress told her former master and father figure. She knew this would be for naught but a part of her wanted to ask anyway.

"I must embark on this journey, with or without any of your approvals. And again, my decision is made" Shifu wasn't going to stop at this possibly last chance to make things right with Tai Lung, he didn't want Po or anyone else to do it for him, he wanted to right the wrong he created himself. And a part of him hoped maybe Tai Lung wouldn't truly be so gone this time, maybe this one time he'll listen and stand down, he sighed as he prepared to walk out with the rest of the Five and Zhen. Po then caught up.

"Whoa, everyone here ready?" as Po asked the Furious Five, Shifu and a still-unimpressed Zhen came out, ready to embark to Juniper.

"We more than are ready, but first ask this thief here where we can reach Juniper City the fastest." Tigress said holding up Zhen who tried to chew at her chain to no avail.

"Alright, so Zhen what path is the best to take for Juniper City?" Zhen didn't respond, with a blank face. "Can you tell us?" she just smirked, hoping Po would ask more pathetically, the Panda just got annoyed and groaned. "Please?" She was satisfied by forcing him to say 'please'.

"Heh, at least Mr. Panda here knows how to ask nicely. So yeah, I'll show you how just follow my instructions." she then glanced at Po's backpack. "Can you also let the panda handle me? I feel more willing to broker information if I'm not being held up by a grumpy cat." Tigress snarled but complied, figuring that trying to not do it would just allow Zhen to continue to mess with her and everyone else.

"Fine, but be aware that if any harm befalls him by your hand, then I will not have mercy on your punishment. Understood?" Tigress growled with her last words scaring the others a bit.

"Yeah, yeah. Sheesh, consider relaxing in a bubble bath or something, miss." Zhen then was handed to Po.

"Okay, now we can have more cooperation, help lead the way Zhen!" Po shouted as the fox gave instructions.

"First, we'll leave through the usual big path and lead into the nearby bamboo forest, that's the first shortcut." Zhen said pointing to the direction. "Juniper's at the coastal areas of China's West side so we'll go pretty far from here. Hope you all packed snacks."

"I packed enough for a month so that would work." Monkey said as he checked his bag.

"We were trained to not overindulge in food, we can do fine with just rations." Viper said as she also pulled a bag of food and some extra ones. "And if anyone else's are lost in the way I brought extra bags." 

"Not bad, snake, you are prepared more than I expected." Zhen remarked while they traveled.

"Well, I guess now we've got some nice interactions with one another, that's the team spirit, Zhen." Po was happy to hear her not provoke the others for once but was met with Zhen's annoyed stare.

"Keep up this first name basis and I'll legally change my name again." this confused the other Five.

"Wait, again?" Crane said as he flew overhead.

"And how would that even bother us?" Mantis asked.

"It would make it harder for you to make a precise prison profile, won't it?" Zhen raised her left eyebrow in amusement.

"Hehe, I'll admit that was a good one." Mantis chuckled but earned a frown from Shifu.

"Please, do not get so friendly with this thief." Tigress looked at him and then at Po.

"And do not encourage us to drop our guards, Po." Po looked at her confused and a bit hurt but calmly responded.

"Alright, no more chummy talk from here until we leave the bamboo forest." he kept on walking forward. "Ugh, this place is tempting me to eat it all."

"Hey, Panda, I think I forgot my bag at home." Zhen zipped quick and then checked Po's bag. "Got any fresh foodstuffs in here, I hate sour stuff."

"Uh, I got these almond cookies, do you like those?" Po said as he brought out one but Zhen rejected it.

"Wait a minute, you can't just offer me something like that!" Zhen said as she backed from his offer. "I have no idea what you put in those."

"He put a lot of almond and some rice in there I guess. I noticed when he tried replacing mine that he ate" Monkey guessed and remembered Po eating his cookies while he was away that one time, causing Zhen to chuckle and whisper to herself "So the big panda has stolen before? Amusing."

"That's not true anymore, that was until last year's ones. And I already apologized!" Po said annoyed, he then split the cookie in half. "Hey, Zh-you, how about I eat one half and you the other?"

"Oh you think this would make me trust that offer? Without a bargain?" Zhen still rejected.

"What's with you? He's just giving you free food." Mantis said annoyed at her behavior.

"I already said, I can't just trust an offer like that out of nowhere. Offers like that get you killed in Juniper." she still kept to herself, not carrying her normally sneaky behavior.

"Must be a trust issue, I wonder what's happened to her." Viper asked in concern, noticing Zhen's change in attitude as alarming even to her.

"Yeah, give it a chance, it can't be that bad." Crane said as he ate one himself, even doing a little mid-air trick. "Wings of food-catching, yeah!"

"Ugh, you people are so... disgustingly trusting." Zhen still refused and this got Po to take the initiative.

"Okay, maybe not everything in life is a trick like yours. Look, here's this cookie half, watch me eat it." in a few bites Po was done eating it and looked at Zhen annoyed. "See? Nothing bad happened." he showed the other half. "If you don't take it, I'll make a crumb trial out of it."

"Hold on, okay you win Mr. Goody-two-shoes. I'll take it, but I'm greatly offended." Zhen snatched it quickly and after sniffing it once then proceeded to viciously eat it, surprising the others. "Whoa, that was good, you got more?" she asked her eyes now almost bulging in her hunger-induced craze.

"Uh, yeah but I don't want to finish them all here!" Po said a bit scared for his meal's safety.

"Po, give her one, the more we get her to comply the better." Tigress said, not impressed by Zhen's attitude so far but figuring that kind of bribe would do wonders.

"Okay if you guys don't protest, here you go with another but that's the last!" Po handed the cookie to Zhen who wolfed it down in seconds, this time she was satisfied.

"That was good, but don't think this makes us friends or anything." Zhen said returning to her normal behavior.

"Never said we were." Po added, a bit amused at having found a weakspot in her "cool" facade.

As they kept walking, Shifu did observe her behavior was concerning, distrusting to a point where a simple offer was seen by her as a possible life-or-death event, nothing good could possibly come out of that. He decided not to press her on this behavior. The rest too noticed this and were growing interested to see what Zhen's life was, even Tigress who didn't really like her was taken aback by what she'd recently seen. As they had made it out of the large bamboo forest, nightfall was falling and everyone decided to rest. The night was quiet with no one making much talk beyond taking turns guarding for an hour each, as well as ensuring Zhen was well restrained to avoid her sneaking out at a moment's notice.

Meanwhile in Juniper City

A table in a fancy hall of the Chameleon's Temple was filled with various criminal bosses, each of them belonging to different species, they all had minions with them keeping them safe. As the recent call by the Chameleon was so sudden they started to bicker among themselves, annoyed they had to sacrifice time of their days to be at the meeting for whatever reason their own boss wanted.

"The Chameleon better have a good reason to call us today, we were about to torture trespassers in my land!" said a Golden Takin, Jong Sung.

"Well, I was about to make some fools pay the fee to cross my lava river land. If this is another, 'pay me your whole loot' I might just lose it." said a crocodile lizard, Chuntao.

"Heh, I would rather be anywhere but here. Hope she can tell us to disembowel a guy that failed to pay her or something." Khan, a white wolf replied.

"My wife will dump me if I keep coming here, I told her there's nothing going on beyond business ten times already!" said a badger, Barsuk.

"Well, I'll be damned, you guys all look terrible today." said Scott, a well-dressed crocodile bandit. "I hope Fung is doing well leading my boys back there."

"Urgh, it's always a loss of money with her." said Gobbi, a bear who wore nothing but pants and with a scarred face.

"Yeah, I've been thinking we've lost too much money by now, I can barely afford soap." a boar bandit, Damo, said.

"Take it easy everyone, you know the Chameleon hates when we badmouth her!" said Klaus, a brown weasel. "If we push our luck she'll cook us for dinner." replied his sister, Veruca, who was lighter colored.

"And that Sanzu guy is slacking off again. He'll get our heads on a platter!" complained Damo.

Then a pair of snapping turtles, accompanied by a small platoon of komodos arrive.

"Is everyone gathered here?" asked one of the turtles, in a booming intimidating voice.

"Y-Yeah, everybody's here alright?" Klaus asked in fear.

"Very well, the Chameleon will be here soon so keep your manners well." the snapping turtle then left with its companions, leaving the bosses to discuss before finally continuing on their discussion.

"As I said, I might just lose it. Know what? We don't have to take her crap anymore we should rise up and crush that little bugger." Chuntao got up from his seat.

"Isn't that dangerous?" asked Gobbi.

"Yeah, I don't think this would work." Scott replied fearfully before drinking a cup of tea rapidly and then breathing some fire when burping. "Sorry."

"How about we sit down and calm?" Damo said trying to prevent Chuntao from doing something stupid.

"Nah, I'd say we rise. When that sucker comes in, we just squash her on the spot!" Chuntao got some support from the others.

"Yeah, about time that annoying lizard gets it!" said Veruca wielding a knife in her hand.

"Veruca, no!" Klaus said trying to prevent his sister from joining in the uprising.

"I could use being in charge myself." said Jong. "More territory means more people to torture."

The other bosses that weren't opposing it also raised their support. And then a cobra appeared rushing and tired from arriving late to the meeting.

"Wait, you want to rebel against the Chameleon?" he asked.

"Yes, Fu-Xi we've been allies before join me in taking control!" said Chuntao, high on his delusions.

"But don't you know the Chameleon could be any of us!" Fu-Xi said which sent the whole room into turmoil and distrust.

"Nah, she cannot be, if she was here she'd have us punished by being flayed alive." said Gobbi.

"You sure, because I heard she has eyes everywhere." suddenly "Fu-Xi" began to change in shape and get bigger. "And I also heard she is a small, helpless lizard, aren't I?"

Then the Chameleon revealed herself, with her guard coming out of the shadows, crossbows in hand. The uprising was quelled as soon as it started by everyone shutting up in fear.

"Boys, girls, I appreciate that you have initiative but an uprising, seriously?" she said as she used her tail to whack Jong unconscious just for being nearby. "We have a deal, you bring me the goods and I make sure your business can actually exist. And recently I'll need you all to suspend all that you planned to do, increase your offerings to me to triple their worth and remain here at Juniper for a few months, a big mission for you all is coming and whoever wins my favor will be greatly rewarded." she looked at Chuntao who just got up and wielded his weapon, now being motivated to deal with her. "And I assure your disrespect towards me is forgiven if you comply nicely."

"Well, I want it to change and I'll take you on!" she dodged as the lizard leapt and crashed into the table, knocking everything over. "Ugh, get over here you." then she took his form and bit him in the chest to throw him towards the exit of the place, near a cliff. She shapeshifted into an elephant and beat Chuntao senselessly with her trunk, until he was full of bruises and begging for mercy. "P-please, no more, I apologize, Miss Chameleon, my gang comply to your terms." she then dropped him and changed back.

"Thank you for your compliance, darling, your replacement shall be smarter than you are." Chuntao had no time to react before a crossbow arrow pierced his chest, it was poisoned and hadn't hit a vital spot, letting him suffer a painful, slow death as his body's functions ceased one-by-one, wriggling and gasping for air before his whole body went numb. "Make no mistake, from this point forth defiance like that will be severely punished, I'm not your mom I can't just shrug it off when you think you can insult me behind my back. I have eyes everywhere and ears everywhere, and a few despicable Kung Fu masters will arrive soon. With your aid and your riches, we'll have them begging for mercy. Now, anyone else got something to say about it? Speak up, don't be shy." she said sadistically hoping that someone else would be stupid enough to speak out of turn like their fallen fellow. Every other crime boss was terrified enough and declared their full allegiance to this new plan not even one of them protesting, even the half-conscious Jong raised his hand still trembling. "Good, very good. Well, the meeting's over I expect my tribute here in a hour, don't cheat me out of it. I will know it."

Her guards escorted the criminals outside, with her crossbow troops staring from afar at any sign of dissidence. As the criminals left, a few snarked on their way out, though the Chameleon appreciated their declarations of her cruelty.

"That girl is crazy." Klaus said to his sister as both ran off to find their loot and bring it over as soon as possible.

"If we survive, I'm so retiring." "Me too." "I'll be on it too." said Gobbi, Damo and Barsuk running off as well.

The Chameleon looked at them running and then told her soldiers to dispose of Chuntao's dead body.

Notes:

So I made some non-canon KFP villains appear here as Chameleon's goons but they won't overtake the plot at all, so dw about that. Hope ya like it.

Chapter 7: Inner Peace

Summary:

Po and his allies are halfway through to Juniper, but as Zhen becomes closer to the Five, Tigress suspects something nasty is at hand with her. As distrust grows, a third party changes everything for the group.

Notes:

New chapter out, now with our protagonists bonding.

Po was the last one doing guard duties, checking that Zhen didn't sneak out when they were asleep, but surprisingly she did not follow the expected script and instead stayed put, sleeping comfortably and peacefully. As morning dawned, Po sighed in relief as everyone woke up.

"Good morning guys, ready to keep on going?" Po asked the whole group, Tigress looked back at Zhen and replied.

"Sure, let's continue on our way. Tell us where we go next, thief." Tigress awaited Zhen's reply as she woke up last and took her time to even get up.

"Hey Ms. Frown I am just waking up, I won't cooperate if you push me." Zhen lazily got up and scratched her back before stretching and yawning, before shaking her head to get her senses fully on. "Okay, I am now fully awake now so no need to pressure me. Next we need to head towards the path that leads to the Fog Mountains."

"You heard her, let's go-" Po was ready to run off.

"Where there's only teeny tiny steps on which to walk on, one misstep and you fall to a painful, embarrassing death." Zhen added, smirking at Po's excitement going away.

"Uh, death? Well, that's never stopped me!" the panda ran off like nothing happened.

The Five themselves weren't impressed so they too just kept going as did Shifu, Zhen herself was awaiting to see their faces once they arrived, they moved closer to the West, taking an unusual path filled with many obstacles that most would not be able to go through such as large cliffs, tall rocks and a poisonous swamp but the group already had taken on some dangerous situations enough to not fall into any trap or danger, going through the whole thing unscathed, Zhen had to admit it was impressive but refused to vocally express her amazement. As soon as they arrived at the mountains the fog intensified around everyone, making it seem like they had climbed the heavens to get there.

"Wow, you weren't lying these steps are tiny." Mantis remarked as he easily jumped his way to the top. Tigress didn't bother with the steps and just used her sharp claws to climb, Viper used her slithering movements to climb up as well, Monkey expertly jumped around the small steps and other places where to support himself, even using his staff to help himself, while Crane got ahead of everyone by flying; Po on the other hand was carefully tip-toeing around the rocks, trailing behind even Shifu who was carefully but quickly climbing, Zhen rested on Po's back, amused by the Panda's bumbling.

"Hey Mr. Panda, be careful with those steps, you might just break em' off. Hahaha!" Zhen threw a jab at his weight, at this point Po was barely too bothered by that kind of insult, let alone coming from her but still it hurt deep down, luckily for Zhen the Five weren't hearing or else they'd make her shut up by any means.

"Well, if I fall you go down with me so I hope you wish me to get out unscathed." Po slyly remarked before pretending to fall. "Ah, we're doomed!" he then looked at Zhen freaking out for a split second before she caught on him messing with her in return.

"Oh, really, like you got me with that!" she frowned and crossed her ams, as Po kept on climbing.

"Huph, this... steps... are... tiresome. Ugh." Po rested on the 654th step. Just then the fog kept on blocking the view below. Tigress had decided to check up on Po after everyone already got ahead.

"Are you okay, Po?" she asked while holding on to the side of the mountain.

"Yeah, just a bit tired, don't worry about me." He then prepared to got to the next step, but as soon as he landed, it broke apart and Po and Zhen fell, screaming. Tigress had barely time to react and was initially distraught for a second and thought Po had fallen to his doom... Until a loud thud was heard and Po's grunt of pain.

"Ow. Wait a minute, am I dead?" Po then noticed he had landed on Zhen, who was reeling in from the impact. "Oh, sorry Zhen, you okay?"

"Not because of you for sure." the fox thief said as she recovered her balance and adjusted her limbs.

"Wait a minute, this isn't a path of sure death, there's a whole line to walk on here!" Po said as he noticed the path he fell on extended for the whole mountain.

"Yeah, I lied. I wanted to see you freak out." Zhen chuckled as Po fell for it, hook, line and sinker. Tigress then descended to check on Po and turned her angry attention to Zhen.

"Very funny, thief, almost as funny as what I'd do if you lie like that again, which I suppose you were about to." Zhen had almost told another lie to Po to mess with him again but got the message from Tigress as she gulped then turned to Po whispering so Tigress wouldn't hear. "I don't like this kitty, she reads minds."

"Yeah, don't make Tigress angry she's the best of the Five I tell ya." Po then continued walking with Tigress behind him to keep him company and safe from any more of Zhen's tricks. "Hey Tigress thanks for checking on me."

"It's... nothing, just care for a friend." Tigress was hiding her emotions again, if Po noticed and word got out of her feelings with Po's propensity to blurt out stuff without any care, she might just feel like dying. "Let's move on the others wait."

"Oh, you two are cute. Makes me want to spread rumors of a dashing romance, heh." Zhen thought to herself as she went back to being on Po's back, waiting for them to reach the top.

Once they had caught up, Po admired the scenery as many distant lands were seen. "That false scare back there was so worth the view up here doesn't it guys?" 

"I wasn't any scared." Viper remarked.

"Me neither, Po." Crane continued.

"Well, it's still worth it so let's go on ahead, tell us where to go... Um fox thief lady?" Po awkwardly smile at Zhen to ask for her help in moving forward. "I'll be honest this whole 'don't refer to me by my name' stuff is getting awkward to phrase."

"Well, just call me Zhen if you feel like it, I mean why do I even care, we finish this dumb mission and I won't see you or these losers again." Zhen replied annoyed. "We must move further to where the Sun sets and where the sky is... redder, that's where Juniper is."

"You said Juniper was near the coast, is the weather there often bad? Coz I kinda get seasick easily." Mantis asked while fearing there'd too much for them.

"Yeah, pretty high tides and storms all the time, be ready to vomit like a pig on New Year's." Zhen said exaggerating her tone to mess with Mantis.

"Don't worry Mantis she's bluffing about all that, right?" Viper reassured her teammate while looking at Zhen.

"Like fifty-fifty, sometimes I don't even know weather's hard to predict whether or not you try hard enough." Zhen told a bad pun to add to her speech.

"That's a pretty funny pun, Zhen, I'll give you that." Po said after chuckling a bit.

"Po, do not-nevermind." Shifu didn't even protest it, as did the rest.

"Okay, let's move on ahead." Po took the lead again.

Soon the group had traveled further and further towards Juniper and decided to stop in the middle of a forest, the trees provided cover for their group, as everyone settled to sleep once more, Po prepared himself mentally for the whole night guard stuff, last time he nearly fell asleep... On top of Mantis. 

"One, two, three stay remember to stay awake when it's your turn Po or else Zhen will get away with our food and maybe my clothes if she feels like humiliating me." Po talked to himself as he did some mild exercise to keep his mind active. "I'll be honest I think I might need to talk to her soon. Why was she so defensive about her distrust?"

Zhen was currently with the rest, being carefully watched by Tigress, who didn't take her eyes off the thief for more than a second she still didn't trust her. Zhen herself had long stopped minding her presence and soon relaxed, being chained hardly affected her and she took it all in stride. "Hey kitty, are you just gonna watch me like a mama bird? Better invite papa bird so you two can check on me responsibly."

"What are you talking about?" Tigress asked, taken off guard by Zhen's comment.

"Oh, this will be good." Zhen thought as she grinned. "The panda, he's papa bird, always so worried about others if they're well-fed or happy. And you're always with him or supporting him despite your obstructive grumpiness. What are you, his girlfriend?" Tigress wasn't too pleased by the comments despite recognizing that Zhen had been quite observant of her more than she liked.

"Shut your mouth now, I only try to protect him from harm, like the one you intend to bring on. Po is not someone who should be burdened by lowlives like you. And you're too awfully relaxed, what are you even plotting?" Tigress growled at Zhen, deflecting the question.

"Oh, you wanna bet I am a burden? Well, let me free and I'll show you a real burden on this dumb quest." Zhen was actually peeved for a second and decided to give as good as she got. "Or is the little kitty too afraid of her boyfriend being sad." Zhen recovered her cool again and tried to mess with Tigress, who did look ready to shut her by any means.

She then was shushed by none other than Shifu who noticed Tigress was growing annoyed with Zhen's comments and put a stop to what could escalate badly. "I'll handle this conversation from now on, Master Tigress. Rest well for tomorrow." He then took Zhen's chain, yanking with a lot of force when the fox thief tried to escape. "Don't think my size tells my strength, now why don't you come with me for a little talk?"

"Eugh, fine." Zhen frowned as Shifu took her to a pond near the place they rested. "What are we here for even?"

"I wanted to ask you a few things. About yourself." Shifu sat down calmly, letting Zhen sit down as well.

"If you ask me about the annoyed kitten, I'll say she started it by staring at me like she has to do so with everyone else here watching me like the last dumpling of the day." Zhen crossed her arms.

Shifu chuckled a bit at Zhen's comment before replying. "No, it's about your aversion to Po's offer of food."

"What of it? I just distrust stuff that comes for free. You're like a monk warrior thingy, you should know a good free offer is just a trap in disguise." Zhen still didn't change her expression.

"Maybe that is sometimes right like you said it was in Juniper, but sometimes all that others want is for you to be content. Altruism is not usually my thing, but it is Po's. I want you to think of it." Shifu told her.

"Altru-what?" Zhen was confused.

"Consult it with Po, he'll know what to say next." Shifu walked her back to the place. Zhen didn't mind the short talk much now, if only because she now had a good reason to get away from Tigress.

"Okay, fair enough, I'll see the Panda and be done with it." 

As both walked back to camp to meet up with Po, they didn't notice someone following them stealthily, it was a figure in a robe who quietly tracked them down. Eventually Shifu and Zhen made it back and the latter went with Po, ready to ask him about what Shifu told her. In the meantime the Five were ready to sleep, hoping Po would be ready for his guard duties soon so they could rest easy. Shifu decided to sleep as well, but as soon as he closed his eyes he had a vision:

He was captured by the Chameleon, who was reciting a speech he could barely understand until he heard some vague words and phrases:

"The Kung Fu of all Masters is Mine!"

"They all will pay for what they did to me!"

"I'll show them!"

"And you, will perish here, dear Shifu. It's so sad it had to end this way. I don't want your apology-"

Then it concluded in him fighting Tai Lung, who sported reptilian eyes and seemingly finished him off, causing him to wake up in a panic. Suddenly he noticed Po and Zhen talking and paid attention without them noticing.

"So what is this, altruism about? The beaver told me about it being a thing of yours." Zhen said while looking at a side.

"It's when you do nice stuff for other people that lead to you losing stuff or doesn't benefits you. Think of it as helping for the sake of helping." Po said calmly.

"Just like that, not even asking for help with a task in return? Or with money?" Zhen was incredulous at that statement, she'd never known a single deal in her life where some price didn't have to be paid by both sides.

"Yeah, sometimes the best reward is others' smile." Po said while almost feeling like he was some sort of awesome warrior philosopher. What'd the others say if they were awake, huh.

"You're weird but I guess that's a thing, so I got it, not that I'll ever do that." Zhen yawned and stretched.

"Well, don't worry let's rest for a better tomo-" Po then was on guard as he heard someone approaching, the figure had made the mistake of stepping on a branch and now everyone was alert. 

"Looks like our first baddie is here, show yourself!" Po got on guard as the Five woke up, while Shifu in turn pretended to have only just woken up. Then as they looked around the figure dropped from the height of a tree and revealed himself, Tai Lung.

"Whoa, it's Tai Lung, his return is real after all!" Po shouted excitedly before remembering just who Tai Lung was (is?). "Oh wait that's bad, get him."

Tai Lung didn't even have time to react before being forced to fight, despite his loss of power he still had some of his talents in him and used them to fend off the group, even Po, kicking Viper and Mantis back while swinging Crane and Monkey to smack Po and Tigress with, Zhen was haggled around since she still was held by her chain but luckily she was ignored by the foe. Tai Lung then approached Po menacingly the other Five recovered but before they had a chance to strike back Tai Lung began to speak rather calmly.

"Po, I have to-" he was then knocked out by a chi strike from Shifu, like the one employed by Oogway years ago.

"He's neutralized for now, but we have to restrain him for when he wakes up, we need to know what he knows himself." Shifu said while trying to hide his mixed feelings on the return of his disgraced star student.

"Okay, so indeed he's back but where are the others, thief lady?" Monkey asked Zhen.

Zhen panicked at the sight. "Oh no, not now, why now?! Couldn't they wait?!" she decided to try and assess what she could claim. "So, if this guy came first, the others aren't far behind. Better to rest for now and then run off into the sunset don't we? But first you wanna like, tie him up or something."

"Uh yes, but this is tangible proof that our foes are back and this is bad. One is terrible enough but three?" Crane was nervous about this.

"Well, I just have to Skadoosh them again and boom." Po said as he raised his fists. "But first yeah, let's tie him up and then wake up wouldn't want to skadoosh him without knowing what he wanted to say. And now I'll have to double duty with him, urgh."

"Hmm, make sure to stay strongly on guard then." Tigress told Po as she looked over the unconscious body of Tai Lung.

"I'll make sure to restrain him." Shifu said as he pulled out a string of rope he brought to try and keep the snow leopard from breaking free easily.

"But did you guys noticed he was sloppier than usual?" Mantis asked.

"Could it be he's tired or has forgotten some of his deadlier techniques while in the Spirit Realm?" Viper asked.

"I mean Kai didn't even lose his touch after 5 centuries there, I doubt Tai Lung would he was the best!" Po replied Tigress looked on annoyed. "Besides you, Tigress."

"It's not about your views on her, Po. Let's just discuss this over after the night passes." Shifu said as he had finished tying up Tai Lung.

"Well goodnight, everybody. I hope everyone's a-ok." Po replied as he had to stay up for guard this one night. He began playing with his hands making shadows in the moonlight and silly noises as everyone even Zhen was full asleep. He began thinking to himself. "How can one not even hear about altruism? And Tai Lung too! What is even going on, did I make the universe mad so they're just sending everything at me at once?! Urgh, if only my dads were here..."

Back on the Valley of Peace

The five warriors were busy patrolling the streets to make sure everyone was safe, unknown to them Ping had snuck out of his restaurant, reaching the outskirts of the land and was ready to follow Po.

"Oh Po, just going off there, and without me to a dangerous place. Not on my watch!" Ping then looked at a photo of himself and Po and another with both and Li. "Oh Li, I hope you can keep our business afloat."

Then a loud thud was heard and Ping was startled before he saw Li upside down.

"Oh, hey there, sweetheart, how are ya? I was on a night patrol for mushrooms." Li asked trying to play dumb.

"You were going to follow Po to help him weren't you?" Ping asked unamused. Li didn't reply but then Ping teared up. "So am I. Our little Po in a dangerous place."

"And if he dies now he won't get hitched! We won't have grandkids." Li cried in response inciting more crying from Ping.

"Well, better run off to find him then. Can't be too hard to get to where he is." Ping prepared his things.

"But how will we follow him, he must be on the other side of China by now!" Li was worried they might not even find him.

"Oh, it's easy, Po's a messy eater he always leaves at least a trail of crumbs and scraps without intending, that's how I always figured out who raided my hidden supply of radishes." Ping joked

"Oh should've guessed, let's go on ahead." Li got ready to follow through with Ping, as the latter jumped on his back.

"Double dad run!" both shouted as they hurried to find Po.

The Five warriors still blissfully unaware of their escape.

Notes:

And now daddy issues shall be had soon! Shifu better be ready for an awkward family meeting, if only Grandpa Oogway (or if he was canon, Shirong) was here.

Chapter 8: The Interrogation

Summary:

As Po and the others interrogate Tai Lung on what he knows and is planning, they find out their stay in Juniper might be more troublesome than expected. When the heroes reach closer to the city, the many crooks and thieve servants of the Chameleon move out to intercept them.

The next morning Tai Lung woke up from the fight the night prior, he groaned as he felt restrained and still dazed from the move used on him, he tried to stand up but couldn't, as he grunted while trying to untie himself, he was greeted by Po's voice and saw the rest of his group alongside him.

"Hey, you're awake, I was worried you'd be out for days." Po walked over to the tied-up warrior, Zhen still with him. 

"Wait, where are we? What are you doing?" Tai Lung groaned as he barely recovered his footing. 

Po paused for a bit then continued. "Oh right, you kinda forgot but last night you just came out of nowhere and attacked us!"

"Are you sure you didn't attack me first?" Tai Lung was annoyed as he recalled trying to talk only for them to immediately force his hand.

"Yeah, you pretty much just went after him, Panda. Quite the 'hero' I say." Zhen added, while glancing at Tai Lung. She'd known him of legends and second-hand interpretations, but this was odd to say the least.

"Well sorry but you got a lot to answer for, Tai Lung!" Po said with an attempted serious tone and then briefly attempted to whisper a request. "By the way after you tell us your evil plans can you sign my shorts? I have wanted your autograph for a while."

"Wait, what?" Tai Lung was confused at the last remark. 

"Did he just ask for his autograph, hey Panda you didn't whisper well enough." Zhen said, confused about Po's sudden question.

"I meant, uh, align your shorts by the time you get to... erm... jail." Everyone was equally flabbergasted at Po's slip-up with Po just looking away in shame. "Uh... Okay, I didn't say anything. Just forget I'm here for a sec."

Tai Lung just raised an eyebrow but then went back into the questioning part. "And what evil plan are you talking about? I wasn't planning anything!" Tai Lung said annoyed, first he loses his power now this?! He, for once, began to think that maybe Chorh Gom or being Kai's jade amulet wasn't that bad of a fate after all.

"Wait, what do you mean nothing?" Po asked genuinely confused. "You know, you were trying to beat me so you could take the Dragon Warrior title from me."

Tai Lung was even more confused, he'd been brought back not long ago so he was certain foul play was at hand here. "I've had that idea for a while, yes." Po cheered for a second. "But I certainly never announced because I just came back to life recently. I haven't even found any populated towns outside of where I escaped from!" 

"Uh, guys, you hearing him, right?" Po turned back to the others.

"I don't believe it, we got reports from many parts of China." Shifu replied angrily.

"I believe he could be trying to deceive us." Tigress said, though even she was unsure given how sincere Tai Lung sounded.

"He could be lying but-" Crane remarked.

"I don't see any lying intent on his face." Viper said examining his expression, seeing it was one of genuine annoyance rather than one of pretending and hiding.

"Well, I can't be too sure myself." Monkey paced around their prisoner but too didn't notice any signs that he could be lying.

"How about you let me go and then we talk?" Tai Lung said annoyedly.

Po just rebuked him. "For once, you're kind of China's most infamous evil guy and two, no one here trusts you much." 

"Is that so? Well then, I won't cooperate much." however, Po kneeled down and continued to ty and get him to talk.

"Look if you help us out with this issue not just with the Chameleon stuff, we might give you a chance to go free. As long as you don't cause any trouble anymore for anyone. We could even semi-release you right now so as long as you don't try anything evil." Po told him trying to find a way to negotiate this issue without giving their prisoner too much freedom.

"Po, what are you doing?" Shifu asked angrily.

"Look Shifu, I know you think my ideas aren't always the best but you gotta trust me on this one. It's kind of clear that he won't talk in any way if we don't give him some freedom." Po felt Shifu would hate him for life if he just let Tai Lung go like that, but at this point perhaps he was the lesser of two evils for the time being.

"Po, I don't think this is such a good idea either." Tigress remarked, not trusting the snow leopard warrior to be helpful if not kept under watch.

"Well, it's either me talking or me not talking at all, your choice." Tai Lung said smugly.

"Do we really need need his help, Po?" Crane said, wishing to see if there was another way to do this.

"I mean we could try torture?" Mantis added. "Not that I condone it but."

"That'll just make him tell you anything to make it stop." said Zhen. "Trust me, I know from experience that torture doesn't work."

"O-kay, she's messed up, but she's got a point." Monkey complimented her statement. "Maybe, if we release him under strict severe watch we can make him talk?"

Shifu didn't get angry at the others beginning to consider it, but simply walked towards Po. "Po, do you believe that will work out?"

"I can't speak much for him, but he sounds legit in being uninvolved in the recent events, so if he could tell us what he knows we might decipher the actual situation going on." Po said with full sincerity. "Trust me, Shifu, I beat him before and I'll beat him again if he gets out of line, and besides who knows? Maybe he'll take this second chance and be nicer to everyone."

Shifu had to admit Po wanting Tai Lung to reform caught him off-guard, he'd be certain Po wouldn't have wanted the snow leopard around or cared about a possibility of him turning good. He didn't let much of his surprise slip by. "Your judgment might not be to my liking, Po, but if this is the belief you hold dear then go ahead." Shifu just looked over at Tai Lung, thinking of Po's words about the second chance.

"So, are you releasing me or not?" Tai Lung added annoyed.

"They're having a moment of emotionality, can it a bit, Snowcat." Zhen said to Tai Lung, who growled at her.

"Answer's kind-of-yes, but no tricks, no fighting and most of all no nerve strikes, I don't wanna pee my pants on reflex or something." Po said seriously then briefly silly at the last part.

"Fair enough, I promise not to harm any of you." Tai Lung kept a straight face at his statement and Po looked at the others who despite their doubts figured it wouldn't hurt much. With their silent approval, Po undid the rope around Tai Lung and helped him stand up. "Finally, you got rid of these things."

"No tricks, Tai Lung, what is it that you know about the Chameleon? What is her big evil plan that she roped you, Lord Shen and Kai into?" Po said to the snow leopard, who replied confused.

"The truth is that I have no idea what she's planning, all I know is that she summoned me from the Spirit Realm for a purpose she didn't disclose. She then offered an alliance to defeat you and the other Kung Fu masters but I refused when I figured she would betray me when given the chance, and when I tried to fight her she struck me with her tongue and performed a technique that made me feel weaker, it's as if my strength was taken and I even lost some of my capacity to do Kung Fu before I escaped." Tai Lung clutched one of his arms as he remembered feeling weaker after she'd drained him.

"Oh, so it's like when Kai took your Chi but at least you're up and standing?" Po asked.

"Not quite but yes, Kai made a simple statue, put my consciousness under stasis, she planned to get rid of me for good after she took my power. But I escaped and attempted to find you here." he added.

"Wait, you were looking for me?" Po's inner fanboy spoke as he was pleasantly surprised that Tai Lung of all people would seek his help.

"Do not mistake my pragmatism for admiration, Panda, I may hate you... but you have a penchant for being a pain in the neck for others. So maybe you can take that Chameleon down for me and restore my strength." Tai Lung just glared at Po's line of thought.

"Don't think he or us will work at clearing your path." Tigress said.

"I know you won't do it for me, I just figured our goals intersect at the moment." Tai Lung calmly replied as he did think about it but preferred to pretend otherwise for now.

"Anyways looks like another alliance with a bad guy. I suppose taking him to a jail and then going back would be time-wasting and troublesome, wouldn't it? Plus, the guy broke out of China's best prison so it'll be like setting him free anyways." Zhen looked at Tai Lung and then at Tigress. "In other words, you'll have to bring the other kitty with us."

"I suppose this is how we'll do from now on." Crane replied.

"Yeah, it's now or never with this issue. If she gets someone like Kai or Shen we'd be in deeper trouble." Viper thought about it too and figured they had to drag him along as well.

"Oh right, now that I think about it we could've used a cart or something." Po also figured the same outcome.

"I suppose this means I'm sticking around, not that I like it." Tai Lung said, he then looked at Shifu and then turned to Po. "So, before we go on back to Juniper, why is he here? And by that I mean Shifu." 

"Ah that, he's here partly because he's about to retire and wanted to stop you when we thought you were still trying to do evil stuff, and also because he's retiring." Po said.

"Retiring? Wait, are you being serious about this, Shifu?" Tai Lung asked genuinely confused about the recent development he learned of.

"Indeed. My days of leading the Valley of Peace are coming to an end and Po is to succeed me and Oogway as the Spiritual Leader. He already had succeeded me as the Grand Master." Shifu walked down. "I had intended to stop you when we believed you were partly behind the recent incidents, but it appears my last journey will be a little more complicated than I thought."

"You really are going to leave responsibilities of that level to that fat buffoon?" Tai Lung asked, jealous of what Po had accomplished. "Look at him, the only thing he could lead is all of us to our doom. He is even relying on a thief for help, how is that leadership material?"

Po felt a bit hurt by it, for once someone told him what they thought of him being the Spiritual Leader and it was just that he wouldn't be good, and of course he had to question his reliance on Zhen, like father like son, Tai Lung had certainly inherited a lot from his father. Shifu walked over to Tai Lung, getting closer so as to reinstate his points.

"I understand you're jealous, Tai Lung, but now it's not the time for us to argue over these issues." Shifu partly averted his gaze. "I might not agree either with Po's reliance on a thief for advice, but if he feels that's the best way I feel trust in his wisdom helping in our journey."

"Of course, you trust that guy, you only do with those who are good enough for you." Tai Lung said feeling his jealously rise up. "After this is all over, I might just feel the need to actually settle the score with all of you, for good."

"If it comes to it after the Chameleon is defeated then so be it. No matter what happens next, my retirement after this is certain." Shifu said sadly.

"If you dare harm him, I will not forgive it." Tigress jumped in Shifu's defense.

"Tigress calm down, we don't need to tear apart our already fragile truce like this!" Monkey intervened trying to pull her away from the snow leopard.

"Yeah, can we not start making ourselves easier targets for the Chameleon?" Crane added as the other masters raised their voices as hostilities were beginning to boil over between Shifu and his adopted children/former star students.

"Okay guys, listen I know we all have unfinished family business and resentment, but can we try not to fight among ourselves?" Po interrupted the escalating discussion, surprising even Tai Lung with how serious he sounded. "I know we all had our disagreements in the past, Tai Lung, but you gotta put that stuff from the past behind, even if just for the next days. The greater good needs you and-"

"Spare me the sermon, Panda, let's just move on." Tai Lung shut him up, to which Po just frowned and resumed talking.

"Well, just try and not fight with anyone here. Just fight the badder guys and the Chameleon from now on, okay?" Po was hoping he'd listen at least.

"Hmm, fair enough. But do not expect me to be too cooperative." Tai Lung decided to heed the advice and not make a ruckus.

"Alright, I got him under control for now. Now Zhen your turn to speak." Po pointed at the thief to get more of her advice.

"We're just a few places from Juniper, we can get there in just a couple days via this road and a boat. But first we gotta find one of those at the outposts." Zhen began to think over of which place it'd be best to explore to get to Juniper the quickest and safest.

"I could scout the area with my flight." Crane proposed.

"No shot, the city's got aerial defenses and they might see you as a kill-on-sight target. Their arrows are poisonous, kill you in seconds if they hit the right spot. Just do what I say, I know how to avoid trouble." Zhen shot his idea down, knowing that even a great master of Kung Fu would be at a disadvantage and risk if they tried to cross the well-defended parts of Juniper.

"So, what's the place we're going to, thief?" Tai Lung was the next to ask.

"Only the biggest tourist trap in China... The Happy Bunny Tavern."

Back in Juniper

"Huff, huff. This is the last of the offerings, mother." said a Komodo Dragon guard, who was exhausted after carrying a large treasure-filled chest to the Chameleon's palace.

"Excellent, now issue orders to my little flunkies. Our friends from the Valley of Peace are nearby. We must give them a little greeting, don't you think?" the Chameleon smirked at her soldier. "Besides, I predict dear Tai Lung will be there with them. I might just need to take a bit more of his power for myself. Just in case."

"Understood." the Komodo Dragon guard ran off to the other guards at the palace and instructed them to spread the word for the criminal bosses to move out and prepare for the arrival of the masters.

As the soldiers rushed and the crime bosses prepared they resumed whining about their bad luck.

"I told you we should't have left England, Veruca, now we have to pay fees for our crimes!" Klaus complained as he moved out with his sister to intercept the Northern areas.

"Eugh, shut up little brother." Veruca didn't mind much as long as she got to harm and kill as she pleased.

"Move out guys, we gotta capture some Kung Fu Masters." Scott rallied his fellow crocodiles to patrol the South alongside Gobbi and Damo and the deceased Chuntao's gang.

"When we get them, we shall torture them real good. Bring on the pliers and the torches." Jong Sung told his takin guards as they brought over instruments of torture to be used once they got their prey.

"Heheheh, that Dragon Warrior will see his Kung Fu is nothing next to Khan." the wolf criminal howled to direct his forces to the East.

"I hope Fu-Xi makes sure every exit is rigged." Barsuk said as he was talking to a few bull guards in the city.

"And I'm here at the center... Okay, I kind of feel lonely." said the last of the bosses, a female Wolf boss who was rivals with Khan but had missed the earlier meeting due to issues with the travel to Juniper. "Anyways, those warriors will likely run here, even if the others don't do their job properly then we'll get them." she was not just at the center but also conversing with the Chameleon who was finishing checking on all her servants' defenses.

"Very good planning on all your parts, better hope for your own sakes that you don't disappoint me." the Chameleon's tail then revealed a poisoned dagger in it. "Or I will make sure you never get to commit a mistake like that again." she then was carried away by her snapping turtle guards.

Notes:

Ooof, was meant to post this in the 14th but got delayed from actually posting it. Anyways the new chapter is here with a setup for more drama later on.

Chapter 9: Brawl in the Tavern

Summary:

Po and co. attempt to find a ride inside the Happy Bunny Tavern but things get a little bit hectic.

The Kung Fu masters had reached the Happy Bunny Tavern at last, they could fantly spot a larger city beyond the waters although the foggy weather and nighttime made it harder than usual to see.

"Here we are, just a neat little tourist trap in the shape of a tavern." Zhen said as she eyed around the place. "Hey look, there's some boats, we oughta take one of them while their captains are drinking themselves into a stupor."

"No, we're not doing that! We'll just go inside and get some help." Po said refuting the idea.

"Are you really going to insist on honor this and goodness that right now?" Zhen said.

"Uh, yeah, we're not thieves." Po responded as he wasn't keen on making himself a criminal.

"Who's 'we'? I have my own methods, panda." Zhen was annoyed at once again being grouped in with them.

"Listen to her, panda, you might just need to skip the formalities." Tai Lung agreed with Zhen on this issue.

"You see? The grumpier cat knows better."

"No, he does not. We'll do as Po says." Tigress stepped in to shut up both.

"Whatevs, don't blame me if you end up in a body cast." Zhen just rolled her eyes.

"You're too pessimistic, Zhen, besides how bad can it be to ask?" Mantis said confidently.

Only for them to hear a commotion from within and a lot of violent crashing and punching from within. 

"You want a ride, little guy? Then here's your ride. Your ride outta this!" said a mocking voice that sounded like a big guy.

Suddenly a rabbit went flying through the window, Crane rushed to catch it before he hit the ground. The rabbit was shaking and closed his eyes before opening when he didn't feel splattering on the ground and looked up to see his savior, Crane.

"Oh my, it's Master Crane in person! Thank you for saving me." the rabbit was shaking uncontrollably despite his joy at being saved.

"No problem, what happened?" Crane asked the rabbit.

"I just asked them for a canoe, and they threw me out. I guess I'll just go back home and forget about visiting Juniper for the time being." the rabbit went on his way.

"This will be messier than expected." Viper added seeing the rabbit walk away.

"I would suggest a way to proceed but I'll let Po decide." said Shifu turning to Po, hoping he'd act akin to a Spiritual Leader's way in a tough spot.

"Uh, I, well... How about we go in ask nicely and if that doesn't works-"

"You beat them up and we hijack a boat as we should." Zhen cut him off.

"I guess that's one way of doing it, but can we try not to?" Po replied. "We want a boat ride to Juniper not a beatdown and fight." 

"And if they attack us first then what?" Tai Lung responded.

"That's where we should punch em' but don't punch em' too hard, guys." Po figured he'd need to keep the others in line a bit.

"Heh, I can work with knocking them out mildly." Tigress said cracking her knuckles.

"Zhen, Tigress, Monkey and Mantis you come with me. The rest should stay outside and watch out for trouble!" Po told as he grabbed Zhen. "You probably know better than me about this 'crime and rhyme' stuff so I would need your help. Monkey you are alert like no else, Tigress is scary enough that any smaller bad guy will stay away... I hope, and Mantis if anything goes wrong you try and help us run out."

"Alright, they will not see me coming if they do try and beat on us." Mantis boasted.

"Fair enough." Tigress replied.

"So I guess I'll have to stay behind with... Shifu and two of his annoying students, then?" Tai Lung asked

"So you're taking her inside, Po? You sure she won't make a deal with someone there and leave us behind to rot?" Shifu asked, worried Zhen might make a bigger mess than needed.

"Do not worry, Shifu, I got her on my sights at all times. Anyways, the more we talk the less we achieve let's go for some boat rides of justice!" Po said as he and his select group went inside, leaving Crane, Viper, Shifu and Tai Lung all alone.

"Uhhh... It's us here I guess, I'll just look around for trouble in the sky." Crane opted to fly around, Zhen told him of Juniper's aerial security but they should be far enough that it won't be an issue.

"Me too." Viper slithered to try and see if someone would try and attack. "Won't you move around patrolling Shifu?"

"No, I have to stand guard here. You two make sure our area is safe." Shifu said as he sat down on a rock. "Besides, if anything goes wrong with Po we'll rush inside to help him."

"Not sure about you and Tai Lung being all alone, though. I mean-" Crane asked worried before Tai Lung cut him off.

"You think of me as a some mad brute? I can control myself in cases like this!" Tai Lung snarled at Crane's implications he'd go off like a madman on Shifu.

"O-kay, point taken. I guess that's my cue to fly, Wings of Surveilance!" Crane then went on with his duty. 

"Stay safe, Shifu." Viper said as she slithered away into the surrounding areas.

An awkward silence was had between Shifu and Tai Lung, both averting eye contact and avoiding talking to each other. Until Tai Lung broke the uneasy silence as he took the initiative of a talk.

"So. You truly are retiring then?" Tai Lung asked, a bit disappointed still to hear that was where Shifu was headed.

"Yes, my age will soon catch up to me and then it won't be long before I leave this world forever." Shifu replied calmly, reflecting on how his advanced age would soon impede him.

"And you're leaving the Valley in the hands of that fat panda? A new low for you." Tai Lung's tone of voice reflected his resentment and jealously towards the Dragon Warrior, even after all these years he still hated that panda with his whole being.

"It was not my choice to make Po a Kung Fu Master, nor Oogway's successor, he chose Po because he knew something about him that no one else did." Shifu defended his decision with confidence.

"And where has that taken you? To team up with a lowlife criminal just to stop that Chameleon girl." Tai Lung's tone continued being bitter.

"I wasn't taken anywhere by any decisions but my own, Po must know what he'd doing." Shifu still was calm but was growing annoyed himself.

"Naturally, you only ever take decisions when it comes to letting buffoons like him get their way."

"I am not here to fight you, Tai Lung."

"Oh, you are, you think I wouldn't notice you coming on a quest that personally mattered to you little after hearing some impostor had been using my name and image?" Tai Lung growled still. Shifu didn't respond as he figured he was caught and couldn't mask his real reasons for coming here all along.

"Sigh, you're right, I came here because of your supposed return. I wanted to make amends, for what happened before."

"You think a simple sorry will make up for it all? For all I went through? Certainly it fits you to just expect things to fall into place for your benefit. I already said this before, but I do not want your apologies, in fact I still do not and never will."

"I understand, then I am sorry for bothering you, Tai Lung."

Tai Lung felt a tinge of remorse for the first time as Shifu averted his gaze in shame of what he'd done and walked away a bit, despite this Tai Lung still refused to acknowledge his own deep-seated and buried desire for reconciliation, even if his heart truly wanted to reunite with Shifu, his pride still was too big for him to seek any progress. Shifu in turn fought back a desire to cry over this, all these years and everything about Tai Lung's life and fall from grace still hurt him deeply, he knew he had failed as a father and master and now couldn't do much about it not even after achieving inner peace and enlightenment, he felt like a failure to Oogway. The night remained calm outside, nothing was going on besides the small conversation, as for the inside...

"Whoa, this place is bigger on the inside than outside!" said Po looking around.

The Happy Bunny Tavern was huge, hosting many sections with food, drinks and entertainment of all kinds for the patrons. Tigress looked around as she saw wolf, ox, crocodile, rhino, boar, goose, porcupine and tahr bandits playing darts with hares and rabbits who had spike hats; Monkey looked at a group of patrons getting heavily drunk on what should be their 10th or 12th drink many laughing senselessly and endlessly, and Zhen chuckled as she saw an old boar in makeup berate a few rabbit workers before going inside a door. Mantis just hid inside Po's bag.

"So, what's the plan now? Do we go asking everyone here if they got boats?" Zhen asked.

"I think that's it but look at these guys they're probably too drunk to even remember their own names." Mantis noticed a wolf patron not even finishing a drink before collapsing on the floor. "I think that guy is dead. No wait, he's just in a deep sleep, maybe... I hope."

"Well, yeah, just ask whoever is not too drunk to stand up. Everyone split and we'll get to our boat master faster. Except you, Zhen, you stay with me."

"I can't exactly go somewhere with this stupid chain, Pandy." Zhen still chewed ineffectively, Po was just amused by her antics by this point.

"Chillax, Zhen, we should get our journey going soon."

The group went on asking the patrons for help but so they either weren't boat owners, wouldn't help at all despite acknowledging their presence, or ignored them outright to keep on going with their business. Tigress herself was briefly stopped when a group of customers began to hit on her. The boldest one was a tahr with a low-pitched voice who got close to her while she tried to look for a possible help.

"Hey there, pretty lady, what you doing with those losers over there? I have a crew of sailors who have recently gotten an opening spot for the crew. You're too pretty to be wasting your time here with them."

"I'm not here for dumb romances, get lost." her firm response got the unwanted suitor to wisely back away. She sighed as she still had no luck, that is until she talked to a pelican in the place.

"Hey, do you happen to have a boat you could lend to us?"

The pelican turned around to her words and seemingly spoke without opening its beak. Tigress was surprised by it.

"That'll be a lot of money for it, hope you pay well."

"How much are we speaking?"

Meanwhile Po decided to take a break after various unsuccessful attempts to get help and simply sat down to think about the current situation while Zhen noticed he was getting hungry.

"Hey Panda, want me to get some of the good foodstuffs around here?"

"Oh yeah, that would work."

Then Tigress came to the two and stepped in to talk. Mantis also hopped out to join in on the talk.

"I've found someone who can help. Problem is, he's asking for quite the large amount of money for it."

"How much is it, Tigress?" Po asked calmly

"About 10,000 Kai Yuan Tong Bao coins."

"Ooooh, now that's a problem I don't think we have enough for that." Po was worried all of sudden that they were on a dead-end for their up-to-this-point flawless journey.

"We could swim over there if it's too much problem to get a boat." said Mantis, proposing one possible solution to the dilemma.

"Then we gotta kick them in the face for the boat!" Zhen said enthusiastically. "I'll beat up that drunk wolf first!"

"No, Zhen, we're not fighting people here. Hey, how about we just go around asking for money?"

"You're not being serious about this, are you? Is he, kitten?" Zhen turned to Tigress whose expression didn't change, telling her exactly how much Po meant it. "Oh."

"So you comin' to ask?" Po talked to Zhen who had a horrified face.

"Ugh, whatever Mr. goody-two-panda-shoes." Zhen joined Po in asking for money but then an idea formed on her head as she smirked. "Hehehehe, this will be good."

Po went around asking each tavern patron for their money but got either rejected violently or threatened with death for even looking at the people. Meanwhile Tigress tried to negotiate with the pelican but still to no avail. With all that was going around, nobody noticed Zhen pickpocketing the patrons while Po talked to them. After a while Po and Zhen came back seemingly unsuccessful.

"Sorry Tigress, seems like these patrons won't hear us out."

"That was certainly not what I expected."

"Well, we still got the beat-them-up plan so how about we get to beating-them?"

"No worries, everyone, I've got you covered." Zhen then unveiled a large bag full of coins.

"Oh wow, Zhen, where you'd get them?"

"Panda Banda, you don't know how to talk to people to give you stuff. Me? I am a master of it."

"Ohoho, thank you, Zhen, so much." He then turned to the pelican. "Hey we've got the money you need."

"Wait, seriously." then the pelican opened its beak and a fish came out. "How do I know you're not scammers?"

"Wow the pelican wasn't talking, it was actually that fish inside his beak." Po said surprised.

"That would be my mother you're talking about."

"Oh sorry it's just that your voice kind of deceived me."

"Fair enough then we can-"

Before more could be negotiated a fist slammed a table as a wolf patron growled.

"I've been robbed!"

"Me too!"

"Who did this!"

"Uh, it seems there was a robbery here."

"Po, there's only one person who could've done it."

"Mantis?"

"No! I would never steal anything but a cute lady's heart." Mantis replied crossing his arms.

"Then it was.. ZHEN?! Seriously?"

"Chillax Pandamonium, they won't know, they're too stupid to know anything beyond indulging in their vices."

Then the angry boar with makeup from earlier burst out of the room she was in and roared causing the patrons to look at her.

"Ah look at that, amateur thieves... The kind we like to see give us reasons to try and beat their faces in."

Po was worried that a fight he didn't wanted was about to start and backed off a bit.

"Hey, boar lady, we don't want trouble we'll just return the money that my misbehaving friend here stole." 

"I am not your-"

"ENOUGH. We don't care for your politeness, Panda, you all fall here! Everyone get those clowns now."

Then most of the patrons went to attack, with a few others just sipping their drinks and jumping out the windows while a bartender bunny put on a conical hat before jumping out too.

"I don't get paid enough for this."

Soon the tavern devolved into a brawl with Granny Boar brandishing a pair of giant hooks to fight, Po reluctantly fought back against the aggressors, using the tables, chairs and bowls of the place to knock out those trying to get him, he even had to slap an attacking goose and a hare that tried to go for his eyes; for Tigress she easily beat the larger patrons, even using a wolf as a makeshift club to whack attackers; Mantis used his speed to quickly throw foes around before sneaking up on those trying to catch Po or Tigress off-guard; Monkey's staff whacked attackers away while he in turn delighted at putting his skills from his outlaw days to good use; Zhen herself avoided trouble and just kept on picking more money while throwing out spice into a wolf's face and using a bucket of water to make a bunch of rhinos trip and in turn trip others around. Soon Granny Boar stepped in and tried to go for Zhen, despite her thieving skills she didn't expect her foe to attack with ferocity that actually put her back against the wall, Granny successfully cornered Zhen and prepared to take her down with her hooks until Po decided to step in.

"Who would you be, Panda. That you think you can stand up to me?" said the boar smugly.

"That would be the fearsome master, the most powerful warrior in the land. The Dragon Master!"

The whole room went quiet, with Tigress and Mantis facepalming.

"The Dragon what?"

"Dragon Warrior, it's Dragon Warrior, just the warrior but I'm a master too. Sorry, it's just that my amazing title naming convention has yet to catch on."

"I see the Dragon Warrior is a disappointment in person. Here's something to catch instead!"

She threw a fiery brochette at Po and Zhen who dodged, but then the former noticed the makeshift projectile about to hit the Pelican and fish and dived in to save them before it could hit them. The fish was perplexed at being saved.

"You, Dragon Warrior, saved us?"

"Yeah, it's just my thing okay? Get to safety!"

The pelican and fish heed their warning and rushed out of the tavern while they could. The rogues still standing all gathered back again, ready for round 2. Po looked around and figured they couldn't waste more time.

"Hey guys, step back."

"What?" Mantis, Monkey, Tigress and Zhen asked in unison.

"It's just a neat trick I picked up a few years ago. Watch me!"

He then began making motions with the Chi Staff, the weapon glew a bright golden color and a dragon was formed from it, Po smirked before making a jump spin and shooting the small Chi Dragon out of the Staff to collide with the patrons non-fatally, knocking them all out and sending Granny Boar right into a giant bowl of soup, luckily for her it wasn't hot or boiling as she laid defeated.

"Whoa, that was... decent, Pando." Zhen was genuinely impressed by the feat.

"Do that again Po! Please!" Mantis asked excited.

"That was an amazing trick, Po, I give you that." Monkey said while still reeling in from what he saw.

"So you haven't taught us all about Chi then?" Tigress was perplexed that was even possible.

"I liked it too, but not here Mantis." Po said.

"Seems like the boat idea didn't work out, let's just go outside and see if there's any other way to get around."

"Yeah, let's do it. Oh, and Zhen? Give them their money back."

"But this will leave us without payment." Zhen said defensively clinging to her bag of lot.

"What you did was wrong, and you need to backtrack on it, now."

"I will never do that, Panda. This money is now mine."

"Last warning, Zhen."

"Make me-Whoa."

Po decided he was done trying to negotiate and just grabbed Zhen and shaked her until the money bag came out. He then kicked it towards the unconscious and half-conscious patrons before he and the others rushed out of the place.

"There's your loot guys, sorry for roughing you up, nothing personal. I apologize in behalf of Zhen, she doesn't know any better."

Once outside, Po sighed sadly as things went pear-shaped real fast and they were back to square one.

"Seems like we failed. I guess we can just cancel this thing and go back."

"Po don't blame yourself for this, it was her fault for derailing it all."

"Hey, Ms. Grumppants, I had the money at the ready, it was that panda's fault for being too nice."

"No time for fighting now guys, how about we just talk to the others or... steal a boat?" Monkey asked.

"Maybe that would work better." Po said sadly.

Then the pelican and fish from earlier arrived before the argument escalated any further.

"Hey you, panda, Dragon Warrior right? Never asked your name."

"It's Po."

"I wanted to say, thank you, for saving my life. I wanted to see if there was a way to repay you."

"Really? Uh, I don't know maybe something like-"

"Don't answer me that, I already know what you came for. If it's a boat ride you want, a boat ride is what you get! On the house."

Po's smile returned to him as now he had the ride needed for Juniper. Zhen turned back and growled at being proven wrong again while Tigress and Mantis felt glad Po was out of a funk and that they had managed to turn things around.

"Let's get the others, Po. Tonight we're leaving after all."

"That can't be true, this is a big joke we're being led into a trap!"

"Looks like you can't handle when Po is right? I know how frustrating it is." Tigress said for once having fun at Zhen's expense herself.

The group then went ahead to find the rest and inform them of their success. Meanwhile, a water monitor spied them from underwater and swam back to Juniper to report what he'd seen.

A few thousand meters away

Ping and Li were crawling on the mountain path, panting while trying to move along.

"How long have we been climbing, Li?"

"Seven... Ugh... Years?"

"May be with how long this is taking, just stay safe and don't roll, I can barely even fly now."

"Got it, ugh, here comes the vomit."

After Li got his relief, Ping patted him on the back.

"Let's not get left behind... Too much, I hope Po is safe."

"Me too."

The two went on their way still tired but hopeful they'd catch up to Po soon.

Notes:

And there it is, some juicy angst and comedy fight for you

Chapter 10: Waterways and Bandits

Summary:

Po and his group finally begin their journey to Juniper and reach near the coast where they figure they'll have a less-than-kindhearted welcome.

Po and everyone else boarded the boat from the fish and pelican duo. While on it, Po took his time to make a few questions.

"Hey pal, so uh what's your name? I meant the fish, if you didn't get it."

"Name's Fish and that's Chip who's carrying me."

"Certainly not a mother/son duo I would have expected." Tigress remarked.

"I mean Shifu is kind of your dad so-" Monkey remarked while looking at Shifu.

"Not the time, Monkey, not the time." Viper replied

"Okay sorry, wasn't trying to make this situation too uncomfortable, sorry again."

"That's okay, Monkey. Let's just keep it quiet here." Mantis said.

"Listen up, we'll get to Juniper in the span of a full and a half days so be ready for a short yet exhaustive journey." said Fish as his mom took up the steering wheel.

"Hey just one and a half? That means I'm not likely to ugh-" Mantis then vomited into the waters. "Seasickness, ugh. At least we're not getting cabin fever in this."

"Hey Mantis, I packed a bunch of healing treatments, just in case." Viper said as she held up some medicine for her friend.

"Good thing I never get sick at all." Zhen chuckled as she was munching on a rice cracker.

With that dealt with, the boat set sail and began travelling towards Juniper, everyone got comfortable as they waited for the day to pass and their destination to be reached.

"Hey Zhen, you said Juniper was a big city right? What's it like?" Po was interested in the big city he got told about and asked his ally about it.

"Oh, it makes your Valley of Peace look like a Pond of Calm. It's got buildings with buildings inside them, enough amounts of people running around that you can get stuck in traffic for days and most of all, travelers from all over the world, beyond China."

"And a lot of criminals, I suppose." Tigress eyed Zhen remembering her earlier words on the Chameleon's iron-grip.

"Yeah, we have tons of them there, and the most ruthless outlaws in China as well... Except for that self-proclaimed Pirate Queen living in her own little place, coward."

"And there's food from other lands?" Po was even more excited.

"Yeah, but I won't ruin the surprise."

"How nice of you, fox, so what are we to do when we get there, Po?"

"Hey thanks for the first name basis, but we gotta split once we get there if it's a city too big, because we could make ourselves easier targets if we just get all clumped up."

"You better not put me and Shifu or Tigress together."

"Don't worry Tai, I promise nothing but I'll try not to pair you with them."

"Hey, how did you get past the river?" asked Monkey as he figured Tai Lung must've made it out of the City in some way they didn't know.

"I stole a boat to get out of there, but a few lizards destroyed it midway through the path and forced me to swim to the coast."

"Wait, you said lizards attacked you?" Po asked concerned.

"Must be bandits, we better not let our guards down." Crane said.

"Agreed." said the rest

A day passed, with everyone on board trying to meditate to clear their minds and be ready for when they'll make landfall. For her part, Zhen was playing with a rubber ball, which caught Po's attention."

"Hey Zhen, what's that?"

"It's a rubber ball, I got one of these from a market in Juniper. Came from some Tikal place or something at the other side of the world, the frogs selling it said it was good stuff for entertainment."

"Interesting, I've seen Po bouncing but this is certainly new." Shifu remarked in a rare moment of humor.

"Didn't know the wombat here had a sense of humor."

"For the last time, I- Wait, nevermind. I won't fall for that."

"And there he is, back to normal." snarked Crane.

"So on another topic, Zhen so you know about them lizards Tai Lung spoke about?" Po asked her.

"Oh them? Don't worry, they're a bunch of dimwitted low-level flunkies led by the equally dimwitted Chuntao, most of the time they charge fees for crossing a lava river in the southern regions but they occasionally send some grunts here to harass people."

"We shouldn't have much trouble then, if it's just some lizards."

"Yeah, those guys are a joke. I've conned them so many times they barely even know what currency is anymore."

"If that's the case we better hope you don't attract any here." Monkey remarked as he looked out at the waters and saw a bunch of figures approaching.

"You had to speak up too much, didn't you?" Crane remarked.

"Well, look at the-blegh-bright side, we get some action!" Mantis jumped in to warn the rest. "Hey I think we got those lizards on our trail."

"What? Fish and-"

"Chip, that's my mom's name."

"Chip, right. Stay safe you both, we'll handle this."

The figures in the water then jumped out and boarded the boat, surrounding everyone.

"Hello there, warriors, prepare for defeat!" said one of the lizards with the rest hissing and brandishing swords.

"Hey there, Johnny, how's the weather lately at home?"

"Zhen! Old frenemy, it's pretty nice actually."

"Shut it, Gohnny!" said the leading lizard

"Oh sorry, nevermind."

"I see you guys don't like small or friendly talk" said Po.

"Of course we don't, we're here to take you in for imprisonment, surrender now or face the might of our forces!"

"Hey where's Chuntao at, didn't that buffoon led you on these raids?"

"Oh he died, the Chameleon iced him. Well, stabbed him actually, with an arrow. No wait that was her minion." said Johnny

"My condolences, guys."

"We hated him anyway, and you we like even less!"

"If you guys don't like us then we can talk this out peacefully, right?"

"Nah, attack!"

The lizards all began swarming the masters, Zhen hid away while the rest fought, with only Tai Lung not choosing to fight, Tigress looked back at the older stepbrother she'd barely acknowledged and was not pleased by his refusal to move.

"You're not helping out?"

"Why would I, seems like you all got this covered well. Just because I'm accompanying you to help stop the Chameleon doesn't means I will be your assistant."

"Fine with me, just stay away from us."

"Like I'd do anything else."

Soon the fight was had as the masters easily beat back the lizards, sending many plummeting into the waters. Viper wrapped herself around the limbs of one and used him to knock out 5 of of them and then himself in turn, Crane grabbed two of them and slammed them against each other, Mantis and Monkey tag-teamed 3, Po and Tigress beat back the leader and his two compatriots and finally, Zhen helped out a bit by throwing sand into the eyes of one before letting Shifu knock him aside. Once they had beaten most, only Johnny was left and he was trembling as the masters approached him.

"He-Hey, guys uh, nice weather we got here and I got to go pretty fast and AHHH"

Tigress held him up and tried to interrogate him harshly.

"The Chameleon sent you here for us, right? Who else is she sending?"

"Chill Tigress, don't hurt him too badly, or else he won't be able to physically speak."

"Don't think I can't control myself, Po."

"I just get concerned you may get too angry at times and that sets a bad example."

"I'm trying not to, you know I just get stressed easy."

"I don't so I can't relate." Mantis added.

"Uh, what about me?" asked Johnny, still held up.

"You were about to tell us about the Chameleon."

"Right right, well she sent some more guys. I won't speak further."

"You can tell us more, J guy, you won't want to find out what we'll do if you don't." Po tried to make a serious tone as he "threatened" Johnny.

"I would rather die than give away vital info!"

"Po, this isn't going to work."

"We just barely started talking!"

"He will stall for time."

"Yeah, Panda, listen to your girlfriend for once and throw that sucker overboard, he can swim anyway."

"Hey, that's rude, do you think I am some sort of thing to throw away?" Johnny told Tigress

"Yes, now get lost." Tigress threw him away with enough force to send him far but not enough to hurt him badly.

"Wait, he could report us to the Chameleon!" Mantis was shocked to realize it.

"I mean, if we're being attacked before we even set foot that means we are already public enemy number one, right?"

With the crocodile lizards dealt with, Fish and Chip descended to join the talks.

"If that's the case you better un-board this boat before we make landfall or else they could set for us a trap." the Fish said.

"Right, we won't endanger you or your mother, Fish." Shifu said.

"Just look out for the coastline and we'll be fine." Viper said.

"I think we're close enough now." Fish said as the landmass of Juniper was clearer to the eye.

Sure, enough they saw the place getting clearer and the city of Juniper and were amazed, even Tai Lung who took a time to peak out and truly experience a better view of the place than before.

"We're close to Juniper so better be ready for when we are a few meters away from landfall everyone." Po said as he got his things ready and adjusted his pants.

"Pack your things everyone, we must make sure to act fast when we're there." Tigress simply grabbed a few food items and a canteen with water with the rest also grabbing only the essentials, Po on his part grabbed a spare pair of shorts and shoes and then saw Tai Lung not doing anything still in the corner.

"Hey buddy, we're gonna need you to get up and ready for when we have to swim to Juniper."

"I am ready."

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to pressure you. Just stay alert and close before I make the teams for when we split up."

"Good grief this will suck."

"A joke about my weight hurts less."

"Good, I hope that stings deep, Panda."

"Sure, whatever."

Notes:

I might set-up a post-KFP 4 series involving a slight rewrite of the three main series, so these set-ups about the larger world could go somewhere but I won't go into too much detail.

Chapter 11: Arrival on Juniper

Summary:

Po and co. finally land in Juniper and begin exploring the place, but here's where trouble rises up to inconvenience them, can the Masters come up with a plan to get to the Chameleon?

The boat ride was close to the shore, revealing the majestic size and structure of Juniper, after some moments of awe from the Masters and Po they knew they had to move out fast to reach the city without endangering Fish and Chip any further. As everyone prepared to drop into the water and swim to the coast, the captain duo bid their farewells for now to the group before they left for their tasks.

"Been a pleasure to help ya, Dragon Warrior. If you ever need our help again, you'll pay up for real this time."

"Nice to know you'll be there, pal. By the way I promise you'll get a free plate of Ping's noodles next time we see each other."

"Noodles, huh, not a big fan myself but my mom likes em' just fine. Thanks for that."

"No problem, stay safe, everyone."

The boat moved away back to the other side of the shore. As the warriors descended into the waters, Po began to prepare himself mentally for the incoming onslaught of enemies they'd face. The others were quick to swim to land, with Zhen serving as a major guide in getting through the waters faster. With their rapid swimming it wasn't long before they had made it to the shore and after drying themselves advanced into the main road of the city which was close to the port they landed. Luckily the gate guards hadn't seen them nor had security deemed them a threat so their advance was not impeded.

"Alright, here we go finally on Juniper, I can't wait to see around."

"Po, focus on our mission." Tigress said still removing water from her coat

After everyone walked through the large street and saw all kinds of animals walk around, from familiar ones such as red pandas, foxes, rabbits, hares, pikas, tahrs, pigs, rhinos, tigers, takins, crocodiles, bulls and geese to others who they hadn't seen much if at all such as hippos, frogs, zebus, cobras, turtles, lions, eagles, giant wetas, horses and axolotls. A few large harpy eagles flew over their heads and landed in a tall building's bar. Markets filled with exotic foods, gemstones and other objects were plentiful as well, offering visitors all kinds of things to buy. A few bull guards walked around, guarding the place while the chameleon's soldiers were too but awaiting the masters to be in position.

"Wow, I've never seen people like these. This place is huge, Zhen."

"Trust me, panda, It feels so much smaller when you live here."

"Po, focus please these distractions could get us in trouble." said Shifu sternly.

"Yeah, sorry. Anyways, we better find a guide. Which side of the City are we currently on, Zhen?"

"I think we're at the South, Po."

"Alright, we gotta split here because if they got bad guys waiting for us we can't let them capture us all at once. We can reunite on the center of the city afterwards and plan out our next move."

"What's your big idea for it, Panda?" asked Tai Lung, not trusting Po to say something logical.

"Zhen, Tai Lung and Shifu come with me towards the North and if necessary, here first. Tigress can-"

"I can go off alone, Po. I'll cover this South area for you."

"Thanks, course you can. And Mantis and Monkey, go to the East. Crane and Viper head West. If something goes wrong, I'll signal a call."

"Oh, you mean like a scream. Because that's totally not going to get us caught." Mantis snarked.

"Maybe it's just a smoke ring maybe?" Viper asked.

"I know flag semaphore signal. Does any of you guys, do?" asked Monkey

"I sort of know it." Crane remarked.

"How about a written message! Or a blowhorn or-"

"We can just agree to someplace to run towards if something goes wrong, Panda." Tai Lung said.

"Any places then, Tai Lung?"

"Don't ask me, ask the little fox about it."

Everyone turned their eyes to Zhen

"I know of a place, we just gotta find the secret entrances and we'll be safe down there."

"Down there?" Shifu asked

"It's the Den of Thieves, where the most wanted go to."

"An underground nest? What are we to you, rats?" Tigress growled

Then a small brown rat passed by and frowned.

"Hey, that's offensive you!"

"Okay, maybe don't make remarks for now, Tigress." said Crane.

"Well, how do we find the entrances to the Den, Zhen?"

"If you are attentive, you'll find it. Trust me, it will all be fine, you guys do have good eyesight, right?"

"Of course we do." Mantis replied.

"Good, then we split he-"

They were then greeted by a group of definitely-not-evil-minion crocodiles and false gharials, one of them stepped up.

"Uh so-Erm gree-ti-ngs, I am Fu-Ng. Welcome. Panda and company. To Juniper. City. Full. Of. Magical. Explungings."

He read his lines from a badly written script in a paper piece looking down constantly, and was struggling to say full sentences without stuttering.

"Are you Kung Fu Masters... By. Change?"

Po smiled uneasily realizing this was one of the Chameleon's goons.

"Nah, we're just family and friends on a trip here. We're good here so we don't need the guide."

"Oh okay, sorry for wasting your time. Not our mark, boys."

The crocodiles then left disappointed, too stupid to realize they had their targets right in front of them.

"And I thought you were dumb, Panda. Seems like you have serious competition to step up against." Tai Lung said.

"Whatever, now we split, the bad guys are coming on our tails soon, look out for anything out of place." Po grabbed Zhen and the others split to get going.

"Now go, we'll see each other at the central part or at the Den if something goes wrong." Tigress replied as she ran, the others flew or ran away too. Leaving Po, Zhen, Tai Lung and Shifu to move to the North. Everyone then mobilized with Po and his group getting into some misadventures as they advanced North. For what it was worth, Po felt things could get better now. From afar, a group of monitor lizards watched them closely and growled as a signal to others to relay to the crime lords that the masters were splitting, giving them the right chance to try and catch them

Chapter 12: The Den of Thieves

Summary:

The team splits and fights some bad guys, a getaway has to be done when things get ugly but will everyone make it to safety?

Po and his allies split up and wore costumes and other kinds of makeup to avoid detection, it worked fine as they now passed off as simple visitors rather than masters infiltrating the place... Except for the Chameleon's goons who did see through their disguises and mobilized to intercept them.

"Careful with the sneak around, guys, these bull guards could look for us at any moment."

Po and his small group were moving along the way of Juniper, fortunately the bull guards hadn't seen them nor were the few komodo dragon, lizard and turtle guards aware yet of their presence thanks to their stealth.

"So, we go around and meet at this Den of Thieves, then? How wonderful, to mingle with lowlives like those vandals." 

"Well, for one you're kind of an outlaw, Tai Lung, you know that?"

"... Fair enough."

"Zhen, are you sure these streets are safe?" asked Shifu as he noticed her getting chummy with the civilians.

"That they are, the people here love me."

"Hey Zhen, this one's the house." said a camel as he threw a cactus pear at her, she caught it and split with a pocket knife she kept.

"Whoa, that guy just gave you food for free."

"Nah, I helped that guy clean his house of guards for 5 years. That was all I'll get for the month, but I don't mind." she said as she took a bite out of the fruit but her eyes widened for a second. "And of course it's the soggiest one he could find."

"Well, that guy's just rude I should teach him a lesson."

"Nah, that's how we roll here. Give only what you don't want in exchange for what you do want."

"That doesn't sounds like a fair nice deal."

"I thought you already saw from me how I don't see why you guys would do 'fair' trades."

"Because we're not greedy ourselves." responded Shifu for Po.

"Help yourselves then." Zhen was about to continue walking until she bumped into Klaus and Veruca, who were dressed as spa owners.

"Greetings travelers, we are... erm... Kevin."

"And his sister, Veronica."

"We own a spa for hardened and tired travelers like you."

"We got a 2x1 promotion today."

No one had any time to answer before Zhen interfered.

"Nah, you two are just play pretenders. You plan on robbing us blind once we relax don't you."

"Why of course not, we're just a pair of friendly faces."

"No you're not, I know you guys' tricks all around."

"You do?" asked Shifu.

"Well guys that offer of yours is good but-" Po added.

"We have no time to waste with a stupid relaxation bath." Tai Lung interrupted Po before urging the group to move along. "Now let's keep on going."

The group didn't even bother keeping watch of the two except for Shifu who felt the two were up to something. The weasels then threw their costumes on the ground in frustation.

"Well, sis, you win this time, let's make a ruckus."

"Ohohoho. YES!"

Just as Po and his pals continued walking, a few more citizens greeted Zhen with enthusiasm, even a lady pig putting up posters.

"Hey look at that, she got my good side."

The poster drew Zhen looking much more devious than she looked normally, completely with a wicked smile.

"Oh Zhen, you came in time for a new artstyle I've developed for these posters. Surely your friends will end up on one of these soon."

"What no, no way, we're good and all, I'm just a little panda walking my friend around who should not do any evil stuff."

"Evil. Good. Is that all you know, Panda?" asked Tai Lung.

"Hey, I just work off based on how bad somebody is when doing things like stealing, helping or even attacking."

"Po, I see your point of view but this might be more complicated than simple morality. Zhen was born into a life like this, this may be all she knows."

"Hey little wombat, I don't need pity. I do need a brush."

She then took it from the pig artist who just sighed as she saw Zhen paint the face of a sleeping wolf citizen.

"Look at this guy, now he's got permanent glasses."

"Is that evil enough for you, Panda?" Tai Lung asked.

"Erm, I'll put on a 5.76 on a scale of 1 to 10."

"I'm actually flattered you think it's partly evil, pandy, I might like your judgamental attitude after all."

"Don't take as a compliment but as advice to grow on, Zhen."

"Sure. Maybe. Never heh."

"Well, it seems like we've gotten past most things now and-"

Suddenly the two weasels from earlier jumped in to fight.

"Alright, no more Nice Weasels, now give yourselves over alive or in pieces!" said Veruca psychotically.

"Just surrender to us and you will not be grievously harmed." said in response Klaus.

"Alright, Kevin and Veronica, you're not going to get past us."

"Maybe they'll get past me, but only because I don't wanna fight those guys much." Zhen said

"Some warm-up won't hurt." said Tai Lung as he got ready.

"Let's not take too long then." Shifu replied as the two got together to fight the weasels alongside Po and Zhen.

Klaus and Veruca were tricky foes, they didn't excel much at physical strength but they had all sorts of underhanded tricks to win, the kind of that you'd expect and not expect; from pocket knives thrown at all angles and times, to cheap shots at Po's crotch whenever possible, or even targeting the back of the heads of the fighters they lasted longer than anyone would've expected them to, with even Tai Lung growing tired as even throwing them aside didn't keep them down for long.

"Too slow, Pandy Waggy." said Veruca as she dodged a flying kick from Po and caused the latter to crash onto a merchant pig's cabbage stand.

"NOOOOO!!! My prize cabbages!" he shouted in despair.

"So sorry about that, I'll pay it back." Po said before Veruca tackled him and tried to hold him onto a chokehold.

"Now be ready to sleep. Urgh, do you even have a neck up here? It's so thick." Veruca held on to Po's back, which gave the Dragon Warrior an idea as she didn't let go and had a firm grip on his back and neck.

"Hey, Veronica."

"It's Veruca, you mumbling oaf!"

"Here's a tip, never grab my behind! Hyah!"

"Wuh?!" she didn't have time to react before Po crushed her against a wall, loopy and dazed she ineffectively swung her knife one last time before falling unconscious.

"Okay, just stay down please, I don't usually crush people like this anymore."

He then heard Klaus scream in pain and fall unconscious too as both Shifu and Tai Lung had defeated him by grabbing him and throwing him into a nearby wall.

"Taken care of, already, panda." Zhen said smugly. "Those two are crazy but manageable."

Then they saw a bunch of bull guards show up to the commotion.

"Oh no, here come the guards, quickly hide somewhere!"

"Why would we hide? We can take them on."

"Not to be too preachy Tai Lung but she got a point we kinda have to protect our reputations as heroes."

"I don't think the leopard has any left."

"Shut it!" Tai Lung said.

"Master Shifu, erm, you don't mind me stuffing you in a box, do you? I mean, just to keep you from being disgraced by China or something."

"Hmmm, I do mind that. But if it works for keeping me out of trouble then I'll accept it, but only this time.."

"Just like that, Shifu? You're going to let him boss you around?"

"He's the Grand Master, he makes the choices. I just saw the point in it."

Po then grabbed a nearby tight box and forcefully put Shifu in there.

"Hey!" a bull guard shouted and walked up to the group. "Well, well, well, if it ain't everyone's favorite mischief maker Zhen. What brings you here in this public area?"

"I was taking these guys on a tour, Ru, wanna join in?"

"Of course I'd like to. But I'm feeling more like bringing you with us, little thief." the bull guard said as he brought out a lance and the rest did as well. Klaus and Veruca joined in on the guards' assault, as they feigned innocence.

"Help us, official these vandals took our box of medical supplies for our sickly mother!" said Klaus in a well-put fake tone of sadness.

"Oh, what monsters they are!" Veruca said too in a less convincing tone.

"That's two infractions, public nuisance and stealing of property."

"Erm, what's the choice for action here, Zhen?"

"We can make a run for it with our dignity, let's just head to where I told you."

"The Den of Thieves?" asked Tai Lung.

"Exactly, Angrier Cat knows what's up." said Zhen.

They began to run from the bull guard ever faster, even through the city's tight streets the law didn't give up the chase, knocking carts, huts, civilians, and more in their path. A few frogs complained when their rubber ball stand was broken and their merchandise bounced everywhere after Zhen guided the guards through it, causing many to slip and slide, while one guard was entertained when he grabbed a rubber ball and began playing with it. As they ran, Po realized they didn't have much of a plan now. Especially when Klaus and Veruca tackled him and caused his box with Shifu to fall into a multitude of other similar boxes, Po rushed to get the boxes with the weasels trailing behind him and Po eventually saw a similar one to the one he had hidden Shifu in and tossed it aside to get Klaus and Veruca to grab the dud one as they escaped with it when they noticed the guards coming and figured they could get arrested if they saw them with the group. Now free of distractions, Po caught up to Zhen and Tai Lung and actually asked the fox thief on her next course of action.

"Um, where do we exactly get in this Den of Thieves, Zhen?"

"Just follow my every step and we'll be there in a minute."

"Uh, huh. You with us, Tai?"

"You'll be the death of us, but meh I'll just break myself out if something stupid happens thanks to you."

"I'll take that as a yes." Po responded as he made a hurry to follow Zhen when she began turning to a crystal shop, where everyone, even Tai Lung and the guards, began to tiptoe when the fennec fox store owner reprimanded them for making a ruckus outside. Luckily they all had care to not knock over a single thing and the place was left unharmed. Soon they were at a corner filled with abandoned drums and other instruments.

"Whoa, what are these?" Po asked as he looked at a discarded harp.

"Nothing important, just do what I do here." she touched a certain pattern on a pile of old drums and the biggest one opened up its cover like a lid leading to a tunnel. Zhen jumped in but when Po and Tai Lung just stared in confusion instead of jumping she came back up and signaled them to follow, which they did by repeating her pattern and jumping in too. Once the bull guards arrived at their corner they found nothing and bellowed in anger before leaving to patrol the city again. Po and Tai Lung both screamed as they fell down the chute-like passage, Zhen nowhere in sight, then they slammed onto the ground, a bit worked up but still in one piece. As they got up, they saw this underground cavern to be abandoned.

"Uh, Zhen, where are you?"

"Right behind you, Panda." Zhen appeared behind the two and scared Po. "Oh where you scared?"

"Me? Nah, I was just, about to sneeze. *cough*. T'was my sneeze, alright?"

"That was a cough, Panda." Tai Lung snarked.

"Okay, I got startled, just a little bit."

"Po." said Tigress who showed up out of nowhere and Po screamed louder this time. Causing Zhen to laugh and Tai Lung to chuckle.

"Whoa there, Tigress?" He then saw the other Five show up one after the other. "Crane? Viper? Monkey? Mantis? You guys are fine." He then hugged Tigress to her embarrassment and Tai Lung's bewilderment.

"Yeah, why wouldn't we?"

"Oh sorry, I was just worried you guys would. Wait how'd you find this place?"

"I got to them fast before you could, Panda. I know my shortcuts and I wasn't going to let your cool friends stay behind, or else I'd be too troubled."

"Whoa, that's amazing Zhen. You know, I'm starting to think you could be a pretty cool Kung Fu Master if you know all these tricks and turns."

"Sorry to make you sad but I am not interested in the whole martial mumbo jumbo."

"It's not mumbo jumbo, it's more like some philosophy with kicking bad guys in the rear." replied Mantis.

Tai Lung rolled his eyes while the rest all gave their accounts of their own fights to get to the place, but then Tigress noticed something amiss in Po's group.

"Po, where's Shifu?" asked Tigress as she didn't see him anywhere with the others.

"He's right here in this box, I secured it pretty good."

But instead of Shifu coming out it instead was a bunch of rotten foodstuffs and other junk which horrified Po as he realized the two weasels had taken Shifu while he was distracted and the latter was vulnerable. Now he'd done it for real.

"Oh no he's not here. No, those weasels took him, Shifu!!!"

Meanwhile, Veruca and Klaus laughed in satisfaction as they hurried with their target to bring him to the Chameleon, Shifu was unable to break out thanks to the reinforcements of the box that the weasels added in both the commotion and the chase and also it being compact enough to prevent his movements. Soon enough they were in the Chameleon's temple and after being allowed to pass by the guards they requested to meet her personally to another of her komodo dragon troops.

"Hey Weimin Lamein, tell your boss we got one of those Kung Fu masters she told us about."

"I don't like you calling me Lamein! But I'll tell her!"

Larry appeared before him and laughed at him. "Hahaha, Lamein. Ha."

Soon enough the weasels were let into the deeper parts of the Chameleon's chambers where she currently sat on a throne contemplating a few of her treasures and artifacts. The weasels politely and calmly entered and bowed to her before presenting their finds.

"So, you got one of the Masters? Who would that be"

"My lord, we brought one of the Panda's companion, that small Chi-Fu to you as ordered. The fool thought we wouldn't see him hiding that old sack of bones in ere'."

"He's called Shifu without a space, Veruca."

"What-ever!"

The Chameleon raised an eyebrow and grinned.

"Excellent job you two, I must say I was worried you'd be left behind on this but-I am truly impressed with your work. Now guards, get ready to chain up our prisoner. And give these two their due reward, Weimin."

The two weasels then slgihtly cheered at their reward and followed Weimin who showed up with a treasure box to give. Once they had all left her chambers, she opened the box and let Shifu out, who got up after falling and was briefly frightened when he turned around and saw the Chameleon.

"You! So, you truly were behind this. Zhen wasn't lying after all."

"Heh, why would anyone lie about the world's greatest mage? And you do remember me, Shifu. I was afraid you didn't. But it's not fond memories that I have of you."

"Neither do I."

"And I see you came here to face me, despite the risks and your star student taking the lead to fight me, curious very curious. Were you looking to defeat me, or is the old sack of bones on his last legs and needs a last refreshing adventure for himself?"

"None of that, Chameleon, it is not glory I seek. Just to stop your ambitions from bringing ruin to China and the world."

"I'm so flattered you think of me as a genuine threat. But I have a true question for you, are you really here just to stop me, or were you here for your little cub, Tai Lung?"

Shifu didn't respond, but the Chameleon grinned.

"Ah yes, it's so predictable, a parent suddenly wanting to be back in their child's life despite abandoning them. I'd be frankly disgusted at myself if I were to engage in such hypocrisy. Worst part is, you know your fault in how he turned out."

"Don't think your words will break my spirit."

"I don't have to, darling, you are already broken as you are. All your stinking Kung Fu Masters lot are. Bunch of self-serving, righteous hypocrites."

"This scheme of yours won't succeed. Nor will you harm innocents. I foresaw our encounter, Chameleon, I know what you plan but it won't work."

"I am afraid that it will actually, to lure out the Masters and eliminate them I have to get their attention. I can't just knock at their door for formal challenges, it'll get boring fast. And besides, it's not just the Masters that have wronged me. The world as a whole has. All will receive the suffering I got a thousand-fold times. Starting with you, Master Shifu."

"Not if I can stop it, here and now!"

Shifu then got into a fighting position and rushed to fight the Chameleon, who grinned as she shapeshifted into Tai Lung briefly alarming Shifu and grabbing him by the throat.

"Oh, I bet this one will sting really good, Shifu."

She then let go briefly and kicked him into a wall cracking it, Shifu got up regardless and was still in good enough condition to fight.

"I won't let you get away with this, Chameleon, it ends here."

"Please, Shifu, you're not even half the Master Oogway was, I have the best of both worlds the Kung Fu of a Grand Master and the dark magic of an Archmage."

She then changed into the form of an Elephant resembling the deceased Master Elephant.

"Besides you pick a few tricks along the way of your rise to power."

With her increased strength she clashed with Shifu evenly and was able to stalemate him, Shifu did notice she was capable of using Tai Lung's abilities without issue despite her shapeshifted body utilizing similar moves to those of his fight with his student, however despite it all both were still incapable of overcoming one another and Shifu was preparing a counterattack as he utilized his chi to create a blast of energy that managed to push the Chameleon back. She was staggered by it and enraged.

"That disgusting tortoise taught you Chi too?"

"No. I figured it out, Chameleon."

With more chi blast attacks, the Chameleon was getting overwhelmed and realized she had to act quick or else.

"Fair enough then, I guess I might just bring out my own ace in the hole too."

"What is?!"

Not reacting fast enough to dodge, Shifu was struck by the Chameleon's quick tongue and had his Kung Fu stolen without a chance to free himself, he was greatly weakened by this and fell to the ground. The Chameleon licked her lips in satisfaction and cruelly spoke to the weakened master.

"How are we feeling, Shifu? A little old-er?"

Shifu felt weaker and suddenly couldn't fight or use his tricks anymore, he figured this was a result of his Kung Fu being stolen from him, as happened to Tai Lung back then.

"It doesn't matter that you weakened me with that trick, my stolen Kung Fu won't be enough for you to win."

"Oh, so Tai Lung told you of my little trick after all, well I see you got your family reunion for a while. I should bring you two closer, shouldn't I?"

Shifu was then grabbed by a snapping turtle guard, unable to break free with his weakened spirit and body.

"Worry not about your life, I need you alive to witness my rise to fame and the Dragon Warrior's glorious end. Oh, and a whole audience of masters and their allies too but my minions will take care of that soon enough. You wait here in this comfortable prison."

The guard then threw Shifu into one of the magical cages and sealed it, preventing escape. Shifu groaned in pain and panted as he began losing consciousness out of exhaustion.

"You won't get away with this, Chameleon. The Dragon... Warrior will... stop you."

"I'd like to see him try, for now rest well I don't want you to sleep through the main event. And I'll bring your son here as well and all your students actually." she briefly changed into Tai Lung. "Maybe he'll solve his daddy issues with you now. Or will he not?" she then changed into Shifu himself. "Besides, the Dragon Warrior will not see what I have planned coming. My most trusted minion already has him in their grip. It's only a matter of time for them to bring him here and end this once and for all."

"N-no."

That's all that Shifu could mutter before losing consciousness.

"Oh, poor Shifu you need to get your sleep after all. Rest well, don't miss the big things that are coming.."

The Chameleon left the place, feeling rejuvenated and ready to receive her visit from the Dragon Warrior soon enough.

Notes:

Whew, this one took a while to write but it's long and a bit more plot-relevant. Soon enough we'll meet the Den of Thieves' inhabitants.

Chapter 13: The Master Thief

Summary:

While Po's doubts plague him to no end, Zhen encounters a figure of her past.

Po fell to his knees in despair. To make matters worse, Tai Lung took time to berate him.

"You cannot be serious, Po. You of all people were supposed to uphold Kung Fu and look at you, you lost Shifu as if he was some unimportant cargo."

"No I-."

"What else are you messing up, first relying on a thief and now losing Shifu. Tell me."

"Hey, stop that. He didn't mean to!" Viper jumped in Po's defense, for once losing fear of Tai Lung entirely to protect her friend's dignity.

"Yeah, how about you keep that hypocritical mouth of yours shut." Crane added with some nervousness.

"What Po did was a mistake, and a bad one but-" Tigress said calmly.

"And a mistake that left Shifu in the hands of our enemies. Are we sure he's worthy to be the Dragon Warrior? A master? Let alone a Spiritual Guide?" Tai Lung asked mockingly then looked at Po.

"I-I don't know anymore, maybe I indeed am not worthy."

"Maybe Oogway made a mistake choosing you." Tai Lung said coldly, shocking everyone, even Zhen who didn't know much of Oogway was taken aback.

"He did not! Take that back." Tigress challenged Tai Lung.

"Am I wrong, is he not putting us at a disadvantage at every turn? With his pointless goofs off, losing sight of the objective and relying on a thief to help?"

"Hey furbag, I may be a thief but I am not happy with what you're saying."

"And I should care because?" 

"Because what you're saying doesn't helps. Po tried his best and that's what matters. Or are you suggesting you, who failed to even contain himself and his impulses when you got denied the Scroll can handle this better?"

"That doesn't matter."

"Okay, can we not like turn this into a shouting match? We're already in a really bad spot here!" Mantis butted in trying to be reasonable.

"Yeah, it's bad Shifu got lost but turning on each other isn't making it better." Viper added.

"No one here is innocent so both of you stop." Crane continued. "Let's just... Get it over with? I sound insane but we can't let this get us down for too long. If we stop here then it won't be just Shifu who'll get captured!"

"But I can't go on, I'll just get you guys lost!"

"Po, don't say that, we trust you. You did make a mistake, but we know you wouldn't lead us on or bring us to a bad path on purpose."

"But even the bad stuff I did ended worse than bad, how will I ever affix something like this?"

"Po, calm down." Tigress said to her upset friend. "We've been through worse before, you don't have to fear anything as long as we're all still together."

"Thanks, then I guess I don't."

The moment was broken up by the appearance of a hundred eyes looking at the group along with a lead voice interrupting their conversation.

"There is one thing you should fear, actually."

Hundreds of weapons were pointed at Po and his group and soon they were surrounded by thieves and criminals who threatened them, the lead voice was a pangolin wearing a straw hat who looked maliciously at the group.

"Wel, well, well, if it ain't a group of intruders in our quarters and they brought little Zhen with them."

"Hey Han, what's up. Or should I say, what's down?" Po chuckled a bit at the pun.

"Nothing of your interest, besides what we'll do to you for breaking into our lair."

"Wait, you didn't tell us this place was off-limits!"

"Four words: You didn't ask."

"That's three unless you meant to say 'you did not'."

Tigress growled at a boar thief pointing a spear at her, causing the latter to back away in fear a bit. Zhen then took her time to speak up.

"Okay I guess we didn't start off amiably, but this here is Han, the Master Thief of Juniper."

"Your flattery doesn't charm me, Zhen."

"It did not long ago."

"You haven't been here in years!"

"You guys got a feud or something going on?" Mantis asked.

"Not your interest, now yes I am Han but that's the last you'll know of me before we disembowel you. Now kids, what's the punishment today? Slow and painful or quick and still painful?"

A group of children rabbit cheered as they picked the Slow and Painful way out. However, in the midst of the commotion, Monkey was seen talking to a pair of young monkey thieves, rather amicably.

"Monkey, what are you doing over there?"

"Heh, sorry but these guys are fun, they remind me of my childhood so much." Monkey played with both monkey thieves that were with him, even keeping them from snatching anything from him.

"Hey guys, don't play with our would-be victims." Han complained as Monkey befriended his thieving monkey twins rather quickly. "You sure that guy ain't a criminal too?"

"As his best pal, he's a criminal when playing mahjong!"

"That's not the kind of criminality I look for, but eh works for me."

As soon as he finished, he then had his criminals point weapons at the group again.

"Anyways, you still got a lot of nerve coming back Zhen? Give me a good reason not to kick you and your friends out or else."

"First. We are here to defeat the Chameleon and blah, blah, blah hero stuff or something like that. Two. We got the Dragon Master on our side!" she pointed to Po who was happy someone called him by his made-up title.

"Haha, yeah!"

Nobody responded, neither thieves nor Furious Five, let alone Tai Lung who was baffled by the "Dragon Master" self-made title.

"You really are a poor choice."

"Haha, no?"

"Sorry, haven't ever heard of a 'Dragon Master'."

"Uh, how about Po!"

"No clue there."

"The Panda that does Kung Fu!"

"Which one?"

"The Dragon Warrior."

"Oh, right that one, wait if that's the Dragon Warrior? Then the snow leopard besides you is-."

"TAI LUNG, AHHHHH!!!" screamed a wolf thief who recognized him, he ran and hid into a basket.

The other thieves were taken aback and now worried for their own survivals.

"Hehe, don't worry guys we got him under control." Po tried to calm down the whole Den before things could escalate.

"You do not control me."

"We kind of are, actually." Crane said awkwardly.

"Whatever."

"So, if you got him under control then we can expect him not to trash the place right?"

"No one is trashing anything here." Tigress said seriously.

"Alright then, I believe we can reach a compromise. Everyone, lower your weapons."

And the thieves did as told.

"Hey Han, let's get to dealing for this whole stay and a few questions." Zhen told the pangolin.

"Only if the Panda does it, I do not like you at all."

"I can live with that."

Notes:

Took me a while to get past writer's block for this. But here's a quick chapter to make up for lost time.

Chapter 14: The Interrogating

Summary:

Po tries to get some dirt on the Chameleon.

Notes:

Now it's time for some revamp on Zhen's reveal of her story.

With Tai Lung's intimidating presence looming over the Den, Po, the Five and Zhen were able to relax. Monkey began to talk with the monkey thieves in the meantime of Po getting to talk and arrange a deal with Han over their stay before they went on to take on the Chameleon. Po was in a private room with Han having Tai Lung at his side to help, discussing the matters.

"Hey Han, how about you let us stay in one night?"

"I can consider that without issue. But we don't take responsibility for stolen clothes."

Then Po noticed his shorts missing.

"Aw, what?"

"Oh it's the monkey brothers who did it. Those two are a blast."

Then Po saw the two monkey brothers make a funny face and run off.

"Uh, you're not grossed out by the sight of shortless me, are you?"

"Nah, I've seen worse. I suppose you have a spare of those... right?"

"Yeah, sure."

Po then got out his spare shorts and put them on.

"I'll still get my old ones back. Someday!"

"So, we arranged a stay and... anything else you'd like to bargain on?" Han added.

"Hmm, I need info on the Chameleon."

"Whoa, slow down, I will not put the thieves here in danger just to help you."

"You guys don't have to get involved yourselves, I just want some dirt on the Chameleon to know how to get to her and maybe beat her. Also, a bit of backstory to know better who I'm up against."

"Hmm, sounds reasonable then."

---

Outside, Tigress was with Mantis, Crane and Viper while Monkey was socializing with the thieves.

"Monkey's taking to this place like a fish to water." observed Crane.

"He was a thief before so it's not too surprising." said Mantis.

"I think it's cute he's playing with those little monkeys." said Viper smiling.

"I guess it is." responded Tigress

"The talks sure are taking long." thought Mantis outloud.

"Po must take some time to convince that Han o helping us so it's better not to pressure him much." said Viper.

"Fair enough, we'll wait then." Crane then looked at Monkey still hanging out with the thieves. "Oh look, Monkey's telling them of his life story and his estranged brother, Wukong." 

"I'll check that out." said Mantis, followed by the other Five.

---

On the meeting room, the discussion continued.

"Okay, Han, I'm listening to what you gotta say." said Po as he and the pangolin thief sat in a small wooden table. "Any dirt you got on the Chameleon and how to get to her, I'll hear it."

"Very well. First of all, introductions. Y'know we barely know where the Chameleon came from, but some say she belonged to a coven known as the Dark Mages. If the stories I've heard are the truth, she once was the Archmage... But over time her greed and cruelty grew to such an extent that her own coven threw her out. Exiled and angry she came to Juniper and has ruled it for... erm... 50 years, I think."

"Oh man, she's old!"

"You're telling me, pal."

"But how do we get into her place? Story's cool tho."

"Oh, but you don't just get in her place, you must break in or else. Unless you're one of her flunkies, those guys get in easy if they have luck."

"I see we can't do it the nice way, so how do we do this the hard, bad way?"

"You see, first she has komodo guards in all her outposts. They make China's royal army look like playschoolers; they're vicious and with nasty breaths. They will swarm you if they so much as see your hair sticking out of a bush."

"Maximum stealth then."

"There's also the water monitors, who will use their crossbows to shoot you down before you so much as approach her temple's garden if you get past the first guys."

"Yeah, we're aware of her dirtier than dirt tricks."

"And to get in, you must find a way to divert the guards' attention, you have to be clever and quick, strike when they are not ready."

"So, like a mega distraction, I've done that before."

"More or less, yeah."

"Alright, I kind of got an idea about it. We'll disguise ourselves as noodle sellers!"

"We're going to die." snarked Tai Lung.

"Same sentiment here." added Zhen for once at Po's simplistic idea.

"Now you're helping him? Okay, okay, next uh. We can try and pass of as boxes."

"Good idea, how about I lock you in one for 50 minutes? That'll get you to shut up." said Tai Lung angrily.

"No offense but that idea is so stupid I don't think even the Panda has considered." added Han.

"I haven't." said Po annoyed.

"Well, you can try and get through the lower levels and tiptoe, but that's going to be a long-coming death sentence if you slip up even once."

"Maybe we'll do that." said Po confidently.

"And that's all I'm giving; rest is up to you and your pals. Now you should leave this room, enjoy your quick stay or else we'll kick you out anyway."

"Po, they can't kick us out, we can take them on." said Zhen not taking the threat of Han and the others seriously.

"Look, I'd like to coerce them, but they'll probably try and cook us over a spit the second we fall asleep here." said Po concerned

"Then, just kick them until they give up." added Zhen.

"Don't interfere in these talks, Zhen!" ranted Han.

"Hey, nothing hurts from a fourth opinion."

"Your opinions are never welcomed, Zhen."

"Like I care that you don't like them, Han."

"Shut up!"

"You do!"

Po and Tai Lung looked with surprise at how personal the whole argument got.

"We'll be out of here anyway, so let's move it." said Zhen frustrated as she got out with Po and Tai Lung in tow.

"And remember to close the door it's humid around this time!" said Han angrily.

"You're not my boss, Han!" continued Zhen angrily.

---

Once outside Po took his chance to speak with the thie.

"Uh, Zhen, can I talk with you for a bit?"

"Ugh, what is it, Pandy?"

"Well, it's more of a private thing because this place looks kinda tense."

"Eh, sure."

They moved to a more remote corner to discuss

"Zhen, what's up with you and Han? You two seem like you've known each other for a long while"

"Business and stuff, I worked for him once, now I don't do so."

"There's gotta be more than that, c'mon, we can talk things out normally."

"Ugh, are you always this pushy?"

"No. But I learned that from Tigress. And maybe my goose dad."  

"Well, if you so insist, I'll talk but will you promise to never ask me things like that again?"

"Sure, thing." said Po with a smug smile.

"Alright, so I was an orphan, yadda yadda, don't know if mom and dad loved me or whatever. I don't care."

"Oh, sorry for that."

"Nothing to be sorry about, I couldn't care less about my bio parents."

"I used to think mine abandoned me, by the way."

"Do you or I talk about traumatic pasts?"

"Oh yeah, you, sorry."

Zhen looked with mild annoyance before continuing.

"As I was saying, I was alone. I was once part of an orphanage, but I found out being told what to do by an old lady with a bunch of parentless babies wasn't my thing and I set of to make a name for myself."

"You had no friends there?"

"I haven't ever had friends, there are no such things in here."

"Well, I didn't have friends either when I was a kid and-"

Po saw Zhen annoyed at his interruption and sheepishly laughed.

"Oooo, right, yeah, you were the one narrating this stuff. Go on."

"Thank you, Mr. Panda. Anyways, I learned how to steal from others, getting my due of food and riches, but after a while I ran into Han. He was a young and masterful thief, and he said he saw something useful in me and my skills, so he took me in and brought me to the Den."

"So he's like your dad?"

"Not really, and even if he was. It's a big WAS from me."

"I see then."

"Han taught me his own tricks, he knew at least 100 different ways to pick a lock and 50 ways to lock a pick."

"Oh that's cool."

"But before I knew I was but a mere tool to him, so I went solo and ever since made it big... Or at least I would've done so if the Chameleon hadn't forced me to obey her rule."

"Well, that doesn't sounds too good for you."

"Yes, and that's why we'll have to get that lizard and I'll be free to do as I please once more."

"Okay, I see it, but Han seems to have it out for you beyond what an normal professional relationship break would go like. You sure he wasn't closer to you before?"

"I told you before, all professional."

"Yeah, right... I'm not convinced, so tell me more."

"Or else what?" said Zhen unimpressed.

"I'll have Tigress get the information out of you!"

"You know that I could just tell you anything to get you to leave me alone?"

"Ah, yeah, right. Um, so maybe if I give you a discount for Ping's noodles?"

"No."

"Having trouble making a simple thief, talk, Panda?" said Tai Lung mockingly. "Another failure on your long list of them."

"I'm not entertaining you, Tai."

"Regardless you're stuck and asking trivial information. We should not heed the advice of these lowlives and let them fester in misery here."

"Nah, I'll just ask nicely. Zhen, what is yours and Han's history. If the Chameleon had anything to do with it, we might have some useful intel to pull from."

Zhen sighed and saw honesty in Po's face as he nicely asked for her to talk more.

"Well, since you're not giving this whole thing up, I guess I'll talk."

---

Meanwhile, Mr. Ping and Li Shan reached the shores of Juniper and saw the mess at the bar.

"Uh, Ping, I think Po was here."

"You think?" said Ping as they saw the beaten-up place."

"We could go inside and ask."

"Good ida, but let's be extra careful with it."

"Yeah!"

Soon the two walked in to try and find out what's inside.

 

Notes:

And it's back, I'll try to speed it up with the chapters soon enough.

Two cliffhangers here for a longer chapter next.

Chapter 15: Past of a Thief

Summary:

As the warriors prepare for the assault on the Chameleon's fortress, Zhen reveals her past to Po.

"All ears, Zhen." said Po with eagerness to hear about Zhen's past.

*Sigh* "It'll be foolish to think I can stop you from pestering me so... Here it goes. Might wanna invite your buddies and your girlfriend, too."

"Wait, 'girlfriend'?"

"The cat lady, y'know?"

"I like Tigres, but n-not in that way." Po denied as he blushed a bit.

"Sure thing, just call em' over."

And Po did, the Furious Five came to his side as did Tai Lung to hear Zhen's story.

"Okay, it goes. I was... not particularly someone. As you know I roamed the streets and all that jazz."

A flashback showed a young Zhen trying to rob a store of its belongings, mostly food, before being caught by a bull guard who tried to take her to jail, she managed to escape him and then hid into a corner, she watched the bull guard leave frustrated when she got away. Young Zhen crawled through the streets carefully, until she'd found a corner where to eat at. As soon as she'd finished eating what few food items she grabbed, she tried to leave and find somewhere to sleep but was found by a water monitor guard who grabbed her by the tail and snarled.

"Look what we got ere', lil' thief thinkin' she can intrude on the boss' turf."

"I didn't mean to, please."

"Like I care, maybe a good ol' punishment will teach ya to keep yer nose outta places ya ain't supposed to be in."

"Let go of me now!"

"Nah, child, I ain't able to do that until I beat your face in."

Zhen attempted to break free of the lizard's grip, giving her a chance to escape her captor and ran off, with the monstruous guard in pursuit. Just as Zhen was cornered and about to be beaten the monitor guard was hit in the head by a rock, the lizard turned around to see a young rabbit thief fearfully trembling as the attention of the guard was diverted to him. However, soon enough the rabbit's expression turned to one of deviousness as various thieves came out of nowhere to help beat down the guard, after a few seconds the lizard was beaten and subdued. As the young Zhen tensed up, she saw a short figure walk towards her and trembled for a bit before she was helped up by the new arrival, he was a Pangolin wearing a conical hat. At first Zhen was recoiling at the sight of him until she noticed he meant no harm to her.

"Hello there, little thief, I saw you had some admirable thieving skills and I wanted to ask you about your name."

"I-uh, don't know."

"How can one not know their own name?"

"She must be an orphan, boss." said a wolf thief who was accompanying Han.

"I see. Well, it's your lucky day, girl, I normally don't care about some average, parentless pup on the streets but since you could be of use, well, you have a chance for a spot in my crew."

"You're taking me in?" asked the younger Zhen, excited.

"Uh, yeah, sure. As long as you pull your weight in our organization."

"I'm in." she cried out while hugging her soon-to-be-father figure.

"Right, make yourself comfortable." said Han awkwardly looking around before taking the young Zhen into his arms. "Let's head home, boys, that lizard will be up and about anytime soon."

And with that the thieves made their way back to the Den. The lizard got up after this and growled when all his opposition was gone before he'd ever had a chance to retaliate against them. 

"And that's how I was found by these bozos here. Now can we please move on from this all?"

"Hey, that was kinda cute, but how did you two end up becoming like enemies or rivals and stuff, anyway?" continued Po.

"Ugh, well, just know that it was pretty ugly. One day I was thinking of how Han had been using me my whole life and just ran off. Sneaked out while these losers were busy groveling at the Chameleon's feet. By then I was able to do it solo, just myself, as I already explained."

"And you never told them you were leaving?" asked Tigress.

"Why so? These guys saw me as a simple coin delivery machine. I saw them as a thing I outgrew."

"Not to be mean but that sounds like you cut them off without warning, it could explain why Han kinda hates you."

"'Kinda' is putting it lightly." replied Zhen.

"I guess that's all you got but why are you so interested in defeating the Chameleon?" continued Tai Lung, feeling the thief's story was not yet complete to its last details.

"Well, you know the drill, thieves have to surrender stuff to the Chameleon, myself included, she makes everyone else miserable in town with scams and the likes and even the most secretive thieves here live under her watchful eye. Plenty reason already."

"And that is all?"

"Yeah, I already gave away too much with this."

"Okay, I guess that's what it is, I still have like 0 clue on what else to do about the Chameleon but it's time to get a move on and defeat her!"

"Well, Panda, I guess we can move out now." said Zhen.

"Alright, everyone I got a plan but we gotta do it quick."

"All ears here." Viper perked up ready to raid the place of the Chameleon.

"Kinda hesitate to do it but I guess it's our best choice." said Crane.

"Monkey come over here!" yelled Tigress at the other member of the Five who was busy talking with a few of the thieves.

"Right ahead."

"What were you doing with them, man?" said Mantis.

"Talking a few issues with those guys. You may thank me later."

With that said, Po and the others got ready to leave.

"Alright, guys, next stop the Chameleon's... Uh, Chamelair!" Po shouted.

"Close the door on your way out, will you?" yelled Han.

"I'll leave it open for the guards then." jokingly claimed Zhen.

"Maybe we don't want to." snarked Crane before Zhen finished closing it.

"Okay, everyone, let's not forget our goal here. We head there, find and rescue Shifu and kick her butt. But we go in stealthily."

"I'm behind you, Po." said Tigress as she prepared to follow him.

The warriors set out, with the thieves looking on as they left before fully keeping themselves locked backed up. 

---

While that happened, the Chameleon was in her temple thoughtfully walking around while recovering from her previous battle, she was looking at the darkening sky while nighttime settled in. The time for her plans was closing by. One of her water monitor guards showed up to talk with her.

"Mother, we gathered enough material for the last few of the prisons, but I see the Blood Moon is approaching and the Masters are nowhere."

"Patience, my dear servant. They will be here in no time soon, get the forces ready... Oh, and make sure to give them a true challenge to sneak in, wouldn't want them to think it's too easy."

"Understood."

The guard ran off to prepare the security forces to get in position for the arrival of the masters. As he did, multiple soldiers readied themselves to intercept the masters. With the Chameleon herself getting ready for the incoming brawl.

"It's almost time, dear Masters, do not disappoint me."

---

Meanwhile, Mr. Ping and Li were trying to find out in the tavern any rides to Juniper, but saw mostly a bunch of frustrated patrons and employees cleaning up the place.

"Uh, excuse me." began Mr. Ping as he talked to another goose who just glared at him and walked off.

"We need a boat ride." added Li trying to talk to a goat that walked by.

Well, that's just rude isn't it?" claimed Ping.

Suddenly Granny Boar called out to both.

"You two, what's your business here?!"

"Uh, we were looking for a boat ride."

"For what reason?"

"We were trying to get to Juniper to uhm..." Li tried to begin talking.

But then he stopped talking upon spotting a Wanted poster of Po being hung up on a wall by an angry patron.

"Heh, find some new goodstuffs."

"Hey, you're a panda, you wouldn't happen to know a 'Dragon Warrior'?" asked a tahr walking up to him with a suspicious look.

"Oh everyone knows the Dragon Warrior, we're just travellers."

But their nervous attitude through this gave away a certain kind of connection.

"You two are definitely in league with that scoundrel." said Granny Boar menacingly as she jumped up on a table to stare them down. "We oughta get that information from you. One way or the other."

But then both figured a plan. Remembering an acting routine they came up with together. Ping changed his expression to a serious, "deadly" one and acted out the part of a fearsome rouge.

"Stand back, lowlife thieves, for it is I Noodle Beard, the Soul Reaper, who has come to take your souls!"

That pirate was a real figure of history, otherwise Ping would've been in worst troubles.

"Noodle Beard? But he died 40 years ago!" shouted an incredulous Granny Boar.

"Sank by foreigner vessels!" said a wolf patron.

"Ha, as if that could stop someone like me! Now I want the best boat ride guy here!"

"Heheh, hey man take it easy, we'll find you a ride."

"Better hurry or else!"

"Wait a minute, how do we know you're not an impostor?" asked Granny Boar annoyed as she began to see flaws in the act.

"Erm, look at me break this wood in half. Hah Ya-owwww!" shouted Ping as he tried to karate chop a wooden plank on the floor but hurt himself.

Li gulped as the thieves were able to figure out the ill-fated ruse with Ping's embarrassing showcase.

"Get em'!" shouted Granny Boar.

Ping and Li backed up into a corner as the multitude of rogues surrounded them. It seemed like the end.

...

Until the tavern began to fall over to where Ping and Li were backed up to. The two figured out what was going on and smirked as they had a way out.

"Better let us go or else this thing falls over with us!" boasted Ping

"Yeah, you don't wanna see yourselves splash!" said Li.

"Hey dudes, we're all reasonable people let's talk this over, eh?" said a goose.

Soon the thieves decided to try and balance the place by all congregating in one spot and stabilizing the hut so they could use weapons to take out Ping and Li. But the duo were quick to react and follow their trail to throw off the balance, soon a sort-of-chase ensued with the duo and the rogues... Which ended when Li thought of jumping up and breaking a few planks with his weight, causing the place to split in half with the remaining bunny employees on the land-oriented side being spared the faith of splashing that befell Granny Boar and the others had. Ping and Li made their escape as the rogues groaned about their fate.

"Well Li, we're out of options."

"This sucks, yeah." 

"Now where will we get a boat from?"

Suddenly Fish and Chip returned to shore. Ping and Li noticed them and were relieved.

"Hey a quick answer!" Li said excitedly. "Uh, you two we need a boat ride."

"Hmm, that'll cost you greatly."

"Yeah, we're willing to pay up." Ping searched his bag for money savings he brought for situations like this.

"Very well, let's see if it'll be enough." said Fish as they prepared their little transaction.

Notes:

It's time for the middle-ish stuff

Chapter 16: A Master's Heart-To-Heart

Summary:

Po and his allies finally make it to the Chameleon's Lair and begin the break-in. However beforehand, a few talks are in session

Notes:

Will try and post the next chapter faster. And I will make sure the other two villains get their earlier returns, so dw about that.

Now outside the Den of Thieves, Po and the masters were readying themselves for the raid on the Chameleon's temple and hopefully the last battle they'll have, upon running farther and farther from the Den, Po managed to spot Zhen having a expression of remorse on her face right after she'd shouted at Han one last time, he was surprised at it, though his inner thoughts told him it was kind of obvious in hindsight that she hid more than she really let on. He had to wait for a calmer place to have a real heart-to-heart with her. The group eventually settled inside an abandoned building and were able to rest and prepare for their last-minute organization and raid. Po began the talk by taking Zhen alone to a separate room from the rest of the group, he instructed the others to not worry much about where he was going to with Zhen and instead focus on sorting anything and everything that they needed to now.

"Hey, Zhen, I wanted to talk with you a bit, before we go to fight the Chameleon."

"If you're going to ask me more on my past, don't expect me to even whisper."

"Nah, it's not that."

"Then what? Panda"

"Just wanted to hear your real thoughts on all this. Since y'know we're kind of close to finishing our mission."

"Heh, don't think I'll admit you are a friend."

"I know you won't ever, but I just wanted to have a little chat before we go on. Look, you don't have to keep on being a thief."

"Oh, let me guess. You want me to join in on your club?"

"Kinda? But it's not about that, really?"

"So what is it, then?"

"Well, I've seen that you're smart, crafty and competent at a lot of things, you could if anything make a pretty good functioning member of society like as a cook or even a helper in some temple."

"I have no reason to trust those things, what good does it do?"

"Well, for once you don't have to surrender your stuff to a crazed lizard."

"Unless the boss I get there is one themselves."

"Heh, that's kinda true but not the point." 

"And what is it?"

"That can you be much more than this, Zhen. You don't have to stay in the life you have right now."

Zhen began to lose her confident tone.

"But... What if it goes wrong? I can't handle being alone if I don't have anywhere to fall back on, and I would be unable to have anywhere to go if I just up and quit my thieving business."

"Zhen, you can make friends once you stop being a thief. You don't have to be alone; I mean."

"Look, it's not that simple, okay? I barely was liked by other kids. I was too different to bond with them. I had my weird quirks. I have no reason to believe things will be different if I try again."

"I had my weird quirks too. You may not think of me as a friend, but I do think of you as it. I mean, you've helped us pretty well all things given, Tigress and the others might not trust you much, but I feel like I can."

"Huh, maybe they're smarter than you."

"Everyone says that all the time, but I don't listen to my brain when it comes to friends, I listen to my heart."

"And generic, mushy words have come, great." said Zhen sarcastically.

"Well, yeah, I kind of overdid it on the dramatism, but you get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, sure. Don't expect me to follow it up with anything."

"Won't force you to. Just advice, follow it if you want to."

"Like I will ever." she replied jokingly before giving Po a mild bump with her shoulder.

"Well, got to see the others, hang in there or come along. No more chain stuff." said Po as he undid the chain that had been around Zhen the whole travel.

"W-Wait, how would you know I won't run away the minute I'm out of sight?"

"Because I trust you, you've proven to be pretty acceptably loyal if a bit rowdy and mischievous."

"I suppose I am."

"Just stay here or come along if you want to hear more closely, ok? See ya around if you don't come."

"Sure, see you. Po." 

Zhen waited for him to leave the room, leaving her alone. She sat down and sighed; Po trusted her, maybe the others didn't but he did, and he... cared for her? Weird, always weird. She'd only been shown anywhere near this kind of kindness by Han in the past, but ever since their fallout it had not been the same, she'd been alone, abused, mistreated, having her few 'friends' constantly abandon her to her luck everytime. And now she had something close to a real friend, maybe too dumb and naive for his own good, but also dumb and naive enough to be good for her, if anything she felt herself more relaxed than ever. But she knew this friendship of theirs was a farce, a mere façade she will soon have to drop to get her due from her real boss. But she for once wasn't in it on this kind of job, many suckers before she screwed over without remorse. Or maybe some degree of remorse, always telling herself that they deserved it for being scummy thieves or deal-makers, but still betraying them face-on wasn't thrilling for her; she never really cared much, though, she could always bottle it up and forget. But she feared this one time, she will never forget the betrayal she was going to put Po and the others through. With a semblance of bottled remorse, she decided to follow up Po and hide her real feelings.

---

Once Zhen caught up with Po at the room where the rest of the group was readying themselves, she watched with some confidence as he discussed how to break in and reach the Chameleon, she paced for a few minutes out of view, unsure on whether to join the group, of whether or not she could belong with them. Even if only for now. After hearing the talks coming to a close, she elected to join in despite her doubts, wanting to take in the full plan and see what to do about it herself.

"Everyone, this is how we'll get in. First me, Tai Lung and Zhen will try and distract the guards with our presence so they try and bring us, in, then Tigress and Viper jump in and kick their butts, Monkey, Crane, Mantis you guys help us by beating up any blindspots in our attack. We also have to get past all those guards and stuff inside, so we're going to have to split while entering once we're past the first defenses, just remember to stay alert for any surprises or crime lords that might want to get a piece of us."

"I could also try to help by flying." claimed Crane.

"You shouldn't fly, birdie unless you want to be the distraction." Zhen suddenly entered the discussion

"Zhen?" asked everyone but Tigress.

"What's she doing out of the chain, Po?"

"Look, guys, I know you don't trust her. But I do. Kinda. Somewhat. Only enough to know she's ride or die." Po defended his choice.

"For the moment." joked Zhen.

"But how are you so sure?" asked Tai Lung.

"Well, if she had ever wanted to like, betray or get us screwed over she had so many chances to do so yet at most just like stole money. Maybe it's time to lean in on trust for this."

"Well, if you want to." said Viper, the only other one not too distrustful anymore of Zhen.

"So, Crane, thoughts on the whole flying bit?" asked Mantis.

"I'll pass on ever having that role."

"Anyone else got questions or want a different role, there's still time to shuffle things around." said Po as he looked at his group for what they might want to do next."

"Fair enough, then lead the way, Po." said Tigress

"Go on, Panda. Let's see you live to your own legends." joked Zhen.

"I can and will."

As they ran off, Tigress spoke with Zhen before departing, only a few words.

"You, thief."

"Uh."

"Got to say that I'm surprised Po is this lenient with you, perhaps you are not so bad after all."

"Heh, funny you say that."

"Come on, Zhen. You'll get your freedom after this, even I don't like it."

"Uh, why?"

"I got a feeling Po will let you get a pardon, or at least a milder sentence, for any crimes you've commited, it's how he is."

"But why would he?"

"You helped him. That's why."

"Huh, and he gains?"

"Nothing, that's why you should be grateful for it."

"Okay, okay, point taken."

"We got a mission to finish, let's move along Zhen!"

"Right ahead, Miss Kittycat."

Zhen once more had guilt rush into her mind before shaking it off and following the group to the temple. Soon the Kung Fu warriors had reached their destination and saw the main entrance from afar and watched the guards inspecting the palace's outskirts. Just as Han said, everyone was well-armed and they spotted various places from which the guards could hide to provide themselves a bit of an advantage against anyone who might think certain areas are unprotected.

"This is it guys, we gotta make sure nobody spots us and if they do spot us then we run fast as we can, just watching out for arrows and stuff."

"We hear you out." said Monkey.

"Monkey, you can use your staff to try and knock arrows out your way. Tigress be sure to watch our sides and back if possible."

"Got it!" both warriors said.

"Well, team, the time is drawing nearer and the night's a coming closer."

"It's going to a blood moon night, kind of neat for a final battle, isn't it?" Mantis said remembering the forecast he'd heard about.

"Right on, Mantis."

"I've heard the Blood Moon is where sorcerers can draw on greater power. Through artifacts linked to other realms." Tai Lung brought up knowledge he got.

"Huh, where you'd get that from?" asked Zhen, hiding her worries about what the snow leopard knew.

Tai Lung looked down at her.

"I've read enough scrolls and books to learn of certain mystical leanings of the world. Not that I could use much of that knowledge."

"Well, I guess reading's good for your health." joked Monkey.

"Maybe that's why the Chameleon began doing all these things just now." said Po. "Oh, she's so clever powering herself up with the Moon to destroy me."

"Po, I don't think we should be praising the enemy." said Tigress in a serious tone.

"Hey, I can admire the dedication."

"I admire the dedication some people have for their craft but I think sometimes there's too much praise for something so terrible." replied Crane.

"Chillax, guys, we'll go in, beat her up and then we'll turn this into yet another bedtime story for the kids of the Valley."

"Well, if you say so." said Viper.

"Come on guys, it's now or never!" 

With that the warriors charged forward, getting ready for the final battle against the Chameleon and its prelude in the oncoming waves of soldiers they'd have to fight.

Notes:

This chapter is solely setting up the incoming raid, wanted to go in a bit more depth for Po and Zhen's relationship. And the seeds of what'll be the big reveals later on (they will be similar but differently paced and structured to what they were in the movie)

Chapter 17: The Break-In

Summary:

Po and co. finally make it in and fight their through the Chameleon's forces to get at her. Trust is put to the test as the Chameleon's lair turns out to be a harsher death trap than most would think of.

Notes:

And we're nearly halfway through with the plot. So expect the climax to play out differently.

"I don't want your apologies, I want my scroll!"

Darkness. That's all Shifu could see at first as he recovered his consciousness. Soon enough he was wide awake and looking around him, he was no longer filled with the energy that characterized him for years, despite his old age, but instead a lethargic slowness reflecting his weakened state, he looked around his prison, seeing a thousand other like his' laying around in a colossal arena-like setting, he knew then that the Chameleon had placed him here. Perhaps to leave him to rot away of old age until he was nothing but dust... Or to make a spectacle of her attempt to defeat and kill Po... And his students with him. Shifu had the intuition that was her plan.

"Ugh, is this...?"

"Your waiting spot? Why yes, it is!" said Weimin, the komodo dragon guard who watched him over.

"What in the world is this prison?"

"A most powerful cage of enchanted metal, the Chameleon's specialty."

Shifu tried to break free, but couldn't. He sensed the cage's properties and something told him he wouldn't break free from it even if he wasn't completely drained of his strength.

"Try and break free, old man, you cannot it's tailor made to keep your kung fu kickin' all within it. Oh, and don't worry, you won't be alone for long, once that fat panda's out the way we'll move on to have a big audience here, hahaha!"

Weimin left the place, leaving Shifu alone and dreading what the Chameleon would do next.

---

Po and his team ran fast, it was time to finally crash the Chameleon's party, they had split up with Po, Tai Lung and Zhen at the path to the main entrance.

"Okay team, let's go ahead."

As they were ready to advance, they listened well to their sides and any place where the Chameleon's forces could be hidden but luckily nothing seemed to be lurking or ambushing them but fortunately, they were able to see well any enemy hidden and snuck by without much difficulty, though still cautious about the slightest movement or sound in their direction.

"Careful everyone, wouldn't want an arrow up our butts here. Especially poisoned."

"Yeah, watch your backs everybody."

"Got it!"

Soon Po, Tai Lung and Zhen were at the entrance, ready for the false surrender plan.

"Hey guard guys, we're here to surrender!"

Soon several bows were pointed in their direction. Two guards, a komodo and water monitor guard, were awaiting and intercepted the two's appearance.

"Oh yeah, we got their attention." said Po while whispering

"Heh, look everyone we found the Dragon Warrior right at the doorstep and Tai Lung... Oh we'll be rich and famous after this capture." said the komodo guard.

"Right, I'm waiting for you guys to take us in."

"Right, right you come with us, mate." said the monitor lizard guard at the other guard's side.

"Yes, take the bait." said Po in a low voice.

"Heheh, seems like we'll get ourselves nifty rewards for this, eh?" asked the komodo.

"Yeah, mate, this warrior wasn't too hard to catch haha!"

"Uh, Panda, we kinda are in trouble here, um..."

"Don't worry, Zhen, we got them now." said confidently Po.

"I'm kinda worried." said Zhen as the guards approached, she was worried they'd talk too much.

The guards didn't notice the Five sneaking around, managing to avoid detection by other guards, soon enough they had gotten close enough to execute Po's plan. Just as they were over Po and ready to handcuff and bring him and the others in, the Five attacked.

"Now!" shouted Tigress as she and Monkey charged in and crushed the guards, arrows were heard but Monkey whacked them away, with their positions given away, the defenses were taken out by Viper and Mantis who threw a couple of rocks with precision at the attackers, knocking them out in their own "safe" positions. With this, Crane flew in from out of nowhere and blew open the main gate.

"Wings of Justice!"

"Never thought I'd be happy to hear those words." snarked Tigress.

"Hey thanks for the compliment." said Crane not minding her words much.

"Well guys, good work, we got the outside forces."

"How about the inside ones?" asked Tai Lung. "When I escaped, her inner defenses were fierce."

"Well, that's what we'll find out, let's move out!"

Soon the group entered the palace, with Zhen trailing behind as she looked at one of the downed guards, who got up and looked at her with an evil smirk, Zhen was doubtful but hardened her expression at nodded at him before keeping up the chase. Within the palace, more guards came out, alongside a few of the crime bosses from earlier (Fi-Xi, Damo, Barsuk, Scott, Gobbi and Khan). Despite all the dangers, they were able to avoid the projectiles and such with ease.

"Get at them!" yelled Fu-Xi leading the charge. Various Komodo guards appeared alongside a few wolf soldiers charging down the main entrance.

"Well, there's our party, come on everyone!" said Tigress as the forces charged in.

Without much trouble, enemies were beaten left and right, even when the crime bosses charged in themselves, with them being forced to fight together but even then it could only help so far before Damo and Gobbi were beaten by Crane, Barsuk and Scott by Po and Tigress, Khan by Monkey and Fu-Xi by Viper with aid from Zhen when the cobra was helped by a few Komodo guards.

"Ow!" said Fu-Xi as Viper knocked him into a pile of gemstones. "My back!"

"Tell me about it." complained Khan as she was upside down and beaten.

"Sorry guys, nothing personal, that's how we do it with Kung Fu." shouted Po as the group made their way into the lair.

"We're closer, I can feel it." said Tigress.

"Soon enough we'll give that Chameleon a piece of our mind." eagerly stated Mantis.

"And save Shifu too!" remarked Po.

The group beat whatever guards were still there and went towards where they could to get closer, the bosses all groaned as they got up, Weimin arriving to check in on them.

"Well, it seems you guys lasted 'long' for lowlives like you." gloated the komodo dragon.

"Urhg, this will hurt on Monday." said Gobbi was he clutched his head in pain and still reeling in from the beatdown.

"But by then we'll be all set for life." claimed Scott before burping fire again. "My bad."

The Masters kept on advancing, dodging attacks, traps and the likes, eventually they figured they needed to find a safer path to avoid danger and found out where they could see the least guards coming from. They took this path within the palace and after a while of running far enough, they managed to reach a hall with mechanical shifting gates meant to crush intruders, there were no other quicker ways that didn't have too many soldiers for the masters to handle, so they had to take this path or else; fortunately they all had mastered timing steps and calculating danger so they were able to advance through the hall for the most part unharmed, a few shifting plates did scare them but they were all able to navigate around these security measures... All but Po who was trailing behind to help Zhen as she seemed slower and more reluctant than usual.

"Zhen, stay alert, don't be crushed!"

"Like I want to."

"You obviously don't want that but the Chameleon surely wishes for it if she put all these, WHAH!"

A shifting gate slammed in front of him.

"One more step and you would've been Panda munch." joked Zhen.

"Hah, yeah, almost died... Hehe."

"Po, hurry up!" urged Tigress as she and the others had made it.

"Got it, let's hurry up."

Po ran with his Master suit's cape flowing behind and carrying the Staff of Wisdom.

"So, what's the cape for?" asked Zhen as they got past another crushing gate.

"It's my fit, better look in style for my showdown with the Chameleon."

"Don't you worry it'll snag?"

"Like it ever will."

However as soon as they were almost done, the cape did snag on one of the closing gates, Po tried to get free but couldn't until Zhen ripped the cape apart, with this the two quickly made their way out just in time as the last part closed down, narrowly avoiding death by a mere few seconds.

"Whew, that was close. Thanks, Zhen."

"Yeah, that was nothing, next time think it over with the capes, eh?"

"I could use that, yeah."

Tigress approached the two, impressed by Zhen helping Po so directly.

"Hey Tigress, Zhen really helped me out here!"

"I saw that, Po. We should proceed now."

"Zhen, you really are better than I expected." said Tigress confidently. "Maybe Po was right to trust you."

"Okay, 'mom', no need to lecture me even in a good way. Leave that to 'dad' over there." joked Zhen.

"Did I miss anything?" asked Tai Lung in confusion.

"Oh, I-" Po blushed a bit at Zhen's comment.

"Weren't we getting to the Chameleon, y'know?"

Po perked up and was able to distract himself from Zhen's comment to focus on continuing the travel.

"Well, that's about that for the journey in here, Chameleon you better beware because we're coming for you!" gloated Po as he lead the group into the final part of the palace's attack, right before the encounter with the Chameleon. As they marched to the main hall, Zhen looked to Po with a happy face, though hiding how she actually felt especially when the Five and even Tai Lung seemed to look at her fondly as they moved along.

"Hey Panda, you're not half bad... For a goof."

"Haha, good to know we're actually chummy, let's go!"

The group rushed, and fortunately no more guards or the likes showed up, letting it be a smooth walk to the place. And soon enough they were in the main hall, though instead of the Chameleon they just saw multiple cages laying around.

"Okay, now this is real spooky stuff."

As they looked around for any signs of the Chameleon, they heard a moaning weak voice and recognized who it was. They were relieved to see him again, but at the same time scared for him.

"SHIFU!" said everyone but Zhen at the same time.

"Master!" Po ran to where the cage was, Tigress and Tai Lung following close behind.

"Po? Tigress? Tai?" said weakly Shifu as he got up.

"It's us, Shifu!" said Tigress in a desperate tone.

Tai Lung didn't say anything but noticed Shifu's tone changing from a mild relief to fear as his expression also changed to match his new entonation.

"What are you doing here? NO, get away, leave me." he said weakly to the trio.

"No, Shifu, you may be getting old, but I won't leave you behind." said Po while trying to pry open his cage's bars. "Ugh, these are real heavy."

Tai Lung stared with a subtle mournful expression at his old master in his attempts to get them to leave, but soon enough noticed it shift into a fear-filled expression as something, or someone was rising up behind the group. The Five got on guard as did Po when they began to turn around.

"You, leave, now... It's a trap!" Shifu shouted as loud as he could before collapsing again of exhaustion.

"What now? whoa." Po couldn't believe the trap he and the others were led to.

Po turned around to see around the cages a large swath of guards of all species with crossbows, several crime bosses wielding their weapons with grinning faces and finally, two snapping turtles carrying a palanquin which they opened the entrance of to reveal their master: The Chameleon.

"Greetings, Dragon Warrior, Furious Five and friends... We've been expecting you."

They all glared at her, except for Zhen who began to back down as the Chameleon looked confidently at her. A memory came flashing to her as a familiar look was on the reptilain sorceress' face.

"You can now call me 'Mother', dear Zhen."

Notes:

And here it comes, the big change is coming. Plus a few more whammies

Chapter 18: The Betrayal

Summary:

Many truths come out as the Chameleon faces the Dragon Warrior and his allies

Notes:

And now the big reveal came.

The Chameleon grinned at the Kung Fu masters, this was a long-time coming fight in the making and she was more than ready to engage in it. The Kung Fu masters themselves were in their battle positions, ready to finish their journey by defeating the one behind it all. Po decided to begin the talk and fight against the Chameleon.

"So, we meet at last, Chameleon." said Po. "I am-"

"The Dragon Warrior? Yeah, I know, I heard." she interrupted him while smugly smiling. "And you brought your little friends with you, oh how wonderful, a full party tailored to the occasion."

"The only special occasion will be your defeat!" boasted Po.

"Right, like you can pull that off."

"I'll pull it off, we'll beat you and stop you from summoning more bad guys to use as an army."

"Ah so Tai Lung told you after all? And he told you of my little trick, too, I guess."

"Yeah, he did. You ain't stealing any Kung Fu no more!" boasted Monkey.

Tai Lung growled at the Chameleon, looking at her directly, she returned the glare with a smug smile.

"Or are you here to see your daddy locked up? You could always join him." she taunted. "You too, Tigress. What a surprising family reunion, wish it was in a better place."

"We'll have that mouth of yours shut when we're done with you." Tigress responded without much else.

"Oh, and how do you plan that, my little masters? I believe I have the numbers advantage."

"If numbers marked a serious disadvantage we wouldn't be here now, Chameleon, so this is your last chance to surrender before we lay our fury on you!"

"I'd like to see it." she said flatly. "Besides, my army is watching, even if you take me down you won't get out of here alive, so you can surrender peacefully or... surrender as you die."

"We kind of prefer beating you and going back home, if it helps." joke Mantis.

"Ohoho, there won't be a home to return to after I'm done with all you." she said before jumping out of her palanquin and preparing for battle. "Stand back, my children, I'll handle them myself. For now."

"Alright, so it's battle time, everybody ready? Zhen, you too?" Po asked the group.

Zhen nodded fearfully, but began to back down slowly.

"Very good, everyone let's do this!"

As soon as Po gave the order, the Chameleon had rushed at him, shapeshifting into a wolf and attempting to claw at him.

"Alright, she can transform, that was no lie, Zhen!"

"Of course it wasn't." said Tai Lung as he joined the fray to help. The Chameleon changed into a bull upon seeing Tai Lung join in and grabbed him with her arm to toss him aside, Tigress, Mantis, Viper, Monkey and Crane joined in too but the Chameleon changed into a crocodile to keep them at bay, then rapidly shapeshifted between her previous transformations while deflecting blows from all her foes; Zhen remained in the corner, something Po noticed.

"Zhen, you ain't joining?"

"I'm not exactly a good fighter! But don't you worry, I'll have a plan for the right occasion."

"Oh good, ah!" said Po as the Chameleon in her crocodile form tried to bite him. "Go on with it."

The guards looked at the commotion, then talked among themselves.

"We should step in, don't we?" asked a water monitor.

"Trust mother's judgment, she already has won, the moment these warriors came in." said a snapping turtle guard to prevent any rash actions.

The battle raged on and though the Chameleon had the element of surprise, the masters were beating her back after learning to adapt to her rapid changes, Tai Lung and Tigress in particular were giving her trouble the most besides Po; while Crane, Mantis, Monkey and Viper regained footing anytime she seemed to have them beat, soon enough they felt close to victory, until she pulled her latest transformations off starting off with Tai Lung.

"Whoa, she's changing into you Tai Lung!"

"Wait, step out!" yelled Tigress as she saw the Chameleon prepare a nerve strike and hit Monkey and Mantis with it, paralyzing them momentarily.

"Ugh, not again." complained Mantis as while the attack didn't hurt or paralyze him as badly as before, he still wasn't exactly immune or unfazed by it.

"Neat trick, isn't it? I believe once I fully take your Kung Fu I'll improve on it, Tai Lung." said the Chameleon confidently.

"Like I will ever allow it." growled Tai Lung as he began his counterattack, trying to fight his duplicate in a more proper prolonged battle this time around. With this change of pace, Tai Lung was better able to fight off the Chameleon, beating her back despite her trying to use his moves to throw him off, however soon as he seemed to gain an advantage, the Chameleon decided to switch tactics and rapidly shifted into Shifu, taking Tai Lung by surprise who backed down a bit at it, through Shifu's nimbler body and powerful kung fu along with aid from her recently gained Chi techniques she began to amplify her attacks, despite their relative clumsiness compared to Tai Lung's own they were able to give pushback to the warrior, forcing him on the defensive, especially with half his Kung Fu drained; before long Tai Lung was knocked aside and on the floor, Shifu almost cried out for him but coughed when he tried to shout. This left Po alone on the fight and forced to pick up the slag to try and defeat his opponent.

"It's you and me, Dragon Warrior." gloated the Chameleon.

"Never would've asked it to be another way, come on!"

The two had a more extensive brawl, Po showcased his mastery by being able to properly counter her attacks and was assisted by Tigress and Viper coming in from his sides.

"We got you, Po!" Tigress did a palm attack on the Chameleon as she changed into a rhino.

"Try this on for size!" shouted Viper as she used her whipping attacks to strike at the Chameleon when she attempted to retaliate at Tigress.

Crane came in next and used his Wings of Justice to blow the Chameleon away, though she was able to avoid hitting the walls by turning into a facsimile of Master Elephant and slam her feet on the ground, growling. Po and the Five stood up once more and seemingly victorious, though they didn't notice Zhen still hiding away. The guards turned to Zhen and waited for her to nod at them, giving them the signal to begin the Chameleon's real plan for this fight. Once Zhen gave them the good-to-go the Chameleon's guards activated a trap as Po charged in to beat her, dropping a large metal cage similar to the one Shifu was in from the ceiling, it trapped Po inside and soon enough the Five were forced to fall back by more of them dropping near them, Tai Lung too had to fall back, and be forced to fight off the attacking guards and that left them unable to immediately help Po who couldn't break past the cage.

"Ugh, what is this made of?"

"Kinetic reflecting metal, enchanted by yours truly. Keeps your little punches from breaking it."

"Clever girl, huh?"

"Po, we'll get you out of there."

But Zhen stood up and appeared next to Po's cage before seemingly knocking down the Chameleon with a fireworks bomb.

"No, I will."

"Great job, Zhen!"

"Quick, hand me a tool to break this cage open with, my bag fell behind!"

"Alright, here ya go!" he presented the Staff of Wisdom to her.

"Use it to break me free."

"I'll do."

Po tossed it to her, though the Five were shocked he had that trust on her, they were relieved when Zhen approached the front of Po's cage, headed towards the lock and... Turned back around?

"Zhen? Wh-What is this? What are you doing?!"

"What I must."

"No, wait don't turn back to the Chameleon, take your chance while she's down."

"Down, say you?" the Chameleon got up like nothing.

"No way, you got-"

"Blown away? Yeah, I've lived through worse."

"Here's the staff... Mother." Zhen said flatly while looking down in shame.

"Good girl, Zhen, I always knew you had it in you."

The Five's moods dropped at the betrayal, while even Tai Lung was confused but began to think it over. Po just looked over in horror.

"You!" shouted a furious Tai Lung.

"Zhen, why?"

"Oh Panda, please, you though she was actually your friend?"

"What does she mean? How could you sell us out last minute?"

"Last minute? Ahahahaha." cackled the Chameleon, her minions following suit. "Oh, this is so hilarious, it's a bad joke."

"Zhen?" asked Po in a now hurt and mildly angry tone. "What does she mean?"

"Po, I never told you about the rules of the streets. First: Never trust anyone." Zhen said in a flat tone, devoid of any joy or emotion in general.

"So, you were using us all along?"

"I-No-Yes." she stuttered but was cut off by her boss.

"Of course she was using you all along, you pathetic mumbling oaf!" shouted the Chameleon. "She's my protégé, my pride, my most prized and beloved child. I picked her off the streets when she was living alongside those pathetic Thieves of the Den, gave her a real chance to be someone and develop her talents."

Zhen continued for her.

"But for the last test I needed to bring her the Staff of Wisdom. And you were the key, Po." said Zhen sadly, while the Chameleon walked around her.

"Don't feel too bad, Panda, you just fell for one of her tricks, she's deceived smarter than you."

"But Zhen, what about our trust, about the chances we gave you?"

"Oh please, you're still on it, she was always using you all along, buttering you up until you truly believed her words." the Chameleon paced around again. "Or did you think you were an actual friend, a real friend to her?"

"Po, I wasn't-"

"Silence dear, let your mother handle this matter."

Po then turned angry, looked away from Zhen and at the Chameleon.

"You. Why are you doing any of this?! Why are you terrorizing China?"

"Oh, you want to know? I'll let you have it before I finish you off. You see, for years I've lived my life straggling around, rejected by my own parents, left to die, then kicked out of the Coven I helped rebuild, exiled from my homeland and many others; and when I tried to practice Kung Fu to turn my life around, that miserable Shifu was there to treat me as a freak for being so small, and his fellow students too."

"You're lying." said Shifu weakly. "You were shut out of the Jade Palace for perverting Kung Fu with your dark magic."

"Shut your mouth, old guy. You of all people made my life hell, every insult you threw my way hurt, but not as much as you'll be hurt once I'm through!"

Po saw the two discuss and tried to think of a way to escape and reclaim his staff, he then saw Zhen pointing to the ground, he initially doubted listening to her but saw regret in her eyes and decided to heed her silent advice and begin punching the ground to create a small tunnel, once out he rushed at the Chameleon and knocked the Staff off her hands to her anger before running away from her position. The Five noticed and began to plan and escape with him by attacking the guards and finding the quickest exit.

"Po, follow us!" shouted Tigress as she took the lead with Po following along while knocking cages to avoid the Chameleon or her forces from catching up too fast, Tai Lung tried to go for Shifu but was impeded when Khan, Fu-Xi and Klaus got in his way.

"You're not freeing anyone, kitty." gloated Klaus.

"Tai Lung, go, don't stay behind for me!" said Shifu desperately. Reluctantly Tai Lung heed his words and joined Po and the others' escape.

"Get them all!" shouted the Chameleon as the heroes ran off with her forces in pursuit.

Through the many halls and sections of the palace a big chase was had, getting more and more intense as arrows and weapons flew at the heroes, leaving them in a hard situation until they finally reached the exit. Cliffside exit, Tai Lung recognized it from his earlier escape. 

"Darn it, we're at the worst spot to flee."

"Come on guys, let's go, you go ahead drop down and to safety!"

The others moved out and did as Po asked, all except for Tigress who noticed Zhen approaching and growled, not wanting Po to be harmed by the thief.

"Wait, Po, behind you!"

Zhen dropped behind Po but seemed remorseful and didn't attack, just talk.

"Zhen?" asked a confused Po. "You came back?"

"Yes, I'm sorry for it all, for lying to you, let's go ahead and escape to regroup, we're a team!"

"But how can I trust you?"

"Do it, come on, no time to discuss. Let me come with you." 

Po reluctantly gave her one last chance and decided to take her along, not noticing a subtle grin growing on 'Zhen's' lips as he turned his back to her temple... And her forces

"Very well but-"

"Po, watch out!" shouted Tigress as she noticed danger he didn't.

As soon as she finished shouting, a poisoned arrow quickly shot out towards Po, the latter had no time to react before Tigress jumped in front of him and blocked it with her arm, causing her to get struck and poisoned, Po stared in horror as she reeled and cried in from the pain, before either could react 'Zhen' turned into the Chameleon and then into her Lord Shen form, with which she used talons to slash at Tigress and Po, striking the former in the eye and knocking them both off the cliff while retrieving the Staff of Wisdom when Po dropped it when attacked. Po grabbed Tigress protectively and hugged her to protect her from the impact of the fall, as they fell and closed his eyes when it seemed his descent wouldn't stop and both would splatter on the ground. Fortunately, a fast-thinking and acting Crane rescued them both last minute and flew away with them, the Chameleon's guards tried to shoot at Crane but missed their shots to their anger, however the Chameleon was just proud of what they did and walked back away.

"My children, we've won. Hahahaha!"

Zhen remorsefully stared from afar while a lot of Chameleon's forces congratulated her.

"Zhen! Zhen! Zhen! Zhen!"

Once Zhen would've loved to hear it, but not anymore, she had betrayed her real friends and now one of them was going to die. She tried to bask in on the praise but the voices around her became distorted, not even the Chameleon showing up to personally congratulate her calmed her down.

"Good job, Zhen."

Notes:

Cliffhangery stuff because why not?

Chapter 19: The Blood Moon

Summary:

As Tigress' life slowly snuffs out, Po and his friends try and find some way to save her, meanwhile Zhen confronts her own guilt while the Chameleon's plan advances further into full completion

Notes:

Almost at the climax, be ready

Things were bad. Real bad.

Po and the others were running fast as they could, the plan had failed, the Chameleon stood victorious, sent them on the run, Zhen had betrayed them and handed over Po's Staff of Wisdom to her and to make matters worse, Tigress had been struck by a poisonous arrow, and though she luckily hadn't been hit in a vital spot and had built enough toughness to not die immediately or quickly, the time they had to save her was severely limited, and they had little to no options on how to do so to begin with.

"Tigress, stay with me, don't you die on us!" Po urged the near-unconscious Master, begging to the Universe to let her survive until they could find help.

"Po I-" she coughed as she was too weak to keep on talking anymore.

"We're losing her, we have to find someplace to patch her up!" urged Crane.

"We're going fast as we can!" said Viper.

"Come on, come on! Don't let up guys!" Mantis was looking with concern at his fellow teammate.

"We're on it, we got to do this fast, for Tigress!" urged Viper.

"But where could we go? We're not going to be able to enter any hospital! We're wanted criminals!" said Monkey desperate until he thought up of something. "Hold on, I know where we can go!"

"Really?" said Po. "Come on tell us!"

"The Den of Thieves, they can let us rest."

"But will they let us in after all that happened before?" asked Crane, worried it wouldn't work.

"I can try to talk them into it, let's go or else Tigress will die."

"Fair enough, we know where to go anyway!" Po said, hurrying ever faster.

The night sky unnerved Po as he looked at Tigress in his arms, she wasn't able to pierce words together in her pain, he also noticed her eye socket was closed and bleeding, with the Blood Moon's light over the place everyone knew the Chameleon was certainly executing her plan or close to it.  However, a part of him also thought about Zhen, he wanted to be furious at her but she seemed guilty, broken. Had she really never cared for them or did she only pretend like everything else, he couldn't know if he could even trust that she was just faking it or truly cared but put it aside for her own ends.

---

At the Chameleon's palace, her forces were celebrating, cheering with wine, bread and other luxurious foods, while the Chameleon spun the Staff around. Zhen was sitting with her hood on, shamefully looking down upon the meal she was given. The Chameleon frowned seeing her pupil so low.

"Zhen, my dear, what is it that bothers you so much?"

"Nothing, just... Ugh, I think I should've..."

"What?" asked the Chameleon, suspecting Zhen was beginning to regret her actions.

"Should've tried to be more proactive, I could've been hurt badly before this."

"Do not worry, Zhen, you should know as long as you get the job done nothing bad will happen to you."

"Yeah." 

"Enjoy the fun and party before the conquest, dear. I'll expand our captive audience to get ready for a worldwide experience."

"Sounds good."

"So, keep on enjoying, keep on enjoying."

"Right ahead, Mother."

"Good girl, anyone here wants another round of dumplings?" asked the Chameleon.

"Me!" shouted a monitor lizard with a mouthful of buns.

"Nah, me!" shouted a komodo dragon who had an empty plate.

"I need fuel!" demanded Scott before burping a smoke ring. "Sorry about that."

"Well, eeny meeny miny moe. Weimin gets it."

"Yeah!" said the komodo dragon, only to be tackled by others. "Wait, it's mine, I earned it!"

"Not yet, not yet." said the Chameleon snarkily, before noticing Zhen looking down again. "Whoever wins, keeps it."

"Zhen!"

A startled Zhen looked back and forth before looking at the Chameleon, fearfully. 

"Yes? Mother."

"You look... Upset, may I know why?"

"I just..."

"Do not tell me that you're feeling guilty about what happened back there."

"No no, just... I feel somewhat unfulfilled."

"When we are done taking over China you will feel fulfilled, then the world will kneel to us, and it'll all be better."

"Yeah, but I don't know if we can pull it off."

"We will, dear, it's easy once we're done capturing all the masters of China we can." she then smirked and looked at the sky, the Blood Moon coming closer to its perfect position for her goals. "Speaking of which, it's time to begin the next part of my plans. My children, begin gathering for the incoming revival of a few fiends."

"Everyone, either move to the Hall or remain on guard for the Dragon Warrior and friends, allow Mother to pull off her plan." said a snapping turtle guard before growling to let the others know he was making a big order to be obeyed.

"Got it!" said one of the water monitor lizards before moving on to the hall with a large group of other soldiers and the crime bosses at once. Zhen was left alone at the dinner table and just sighed sadly as she walked in circles, thinking of what she could even do. She had the great status she once wished for right at her fingertips, but she didn't feel eager to get it, just depressed that she betrayed Po. Not to mention Tigress was poisoned and sure to die, and it would be on her.

"What'll I do?"

She then went over to the Hall of the Chameleon, where the latter was still preparing her ritual.

"Nice to see you, Zhen."

"Yeah."

"Will you be at this audience?"

"Maybe, I wanted to see these cages a bit."

The Chameleon glanced at her and raised an eyebrow in suspicion but dismissed it to focus on her goals. Zhen walked around until she found Shifu, she wanted to apologize to him, or at least give him the reason that he was right to distrust her. She spoke low and softly so as to not be heard by the others.

"Hey, red panda."

"Zhen, what are you doing here?" he coughed after finishing.

"Well, you were right, I wasn't trustworthy."

"And?"

"Wait, aren't you mad?"

"You don't seem like you enjoyed what you did."

"I-didn't."

"Yet you betrayed your friends."

"Yeah."

"The first real friends you had."

"Right..."

"And now are lost."

"Yesyesyes!" she said almost tearing up.

"Then what comes next?"

"Uh, I don't know." her sadness ceased and turned to confusion.

"You got to find out, either make the right choice or the wrong one, but only you will know which one is it-" he coughed again.

"Why are you so calm with me?"

"Because... Po saw something in you, and I can see it now. You're a good person deep down, but you have to act like it so it can be more than just a buried trait."

Zhen backed away a bit.

"The choice is yours to make, now either leave or be a mere witness to someone else's cruelty."

Zhen looked at the Chameleon giving a speech before preparing to utilize her dark magic with the coming Blood Moon.

"You'll know what to do, Zhen." said Shifu.

After a while of thinking she then frowned and made a choice in her mind: she was going to help Po.

"Then I will help them."

"Heh, you indeed took the right choice, now go, help Po."

"Yes, I'll go! You sure you wanna stay here, I can break you out."

"I can't help like this, it's for the best I remain here. Now go or else!"

"Okay but when I come back, I promise I'll let your little leopard son see you."

Shifu didn't say more, just nodded at her to leave. As Zhen tried to walk away she bumped into Weimin and Larry.

"Hey, where you going?" asked Larry.

"I was about to head out for some fresh air, can't a girl have her fresh air?"

"And why exactly now in the middle of something so important?" Weimin was skeptical of her intentions.

Zhen jumped up and growled at Weimin.

"Because I feel like it and as the Chameleon's most intelligent soldier you should not question what I say."

Weimin gulped and chuckled uncomfortably. "Uh, huh, yeah, hehe, go on."

"Thanks for being comprehensive." said Zhen before walking away, with the two lizards looking back in confusion before shrugging it off and resuming their way into joining the audience of the Chameleon.

Zhen then searched around the palace for a few potions, items and medicines and ran off, sneaking outside the palace successfully before making her way to Po. She hoped she wouldn't get too late to save Tigress. Her heart beat fast as she ran faster than ever and with a great worry weighing her down. She looked around to make sure no one saw her and kept on running once sure of it.

"Po, I hope you can forgive me." she said to herself.

---

The Chameleon now stood at the center of her palace's halls, looking at the Blood Moon with a smirk, she swung the Staff of Wisdom around and felt its power seep into her. She felt livelier than ever, more powerful and capable of pulling off her magic without any further harm or struggle.

"It's almost time. Order everyone!"

Her forces stood still and quiet, including the crime bosses who she brought to personally witness her plans.

"Now, my children, it's time for a new age! Kung Fu, the Empire of China, the Old World Order; are all outdated. It's time for a new normal, a better order."

Her forces cheered. The crime bosses mildly did while also chuckling awkwardly and being worried they could get snuffed if they got spotted not being too enthusiastic.

"To begin this new age. My age. I shall summon a few of China's infamous fiends, prove to them I'm even better than the so-called Dragon Warrior himself. And thus I summon forth: Lord Shen!"

She spun the staff around as its golden magic turned purple and a crack around the air formed as the Spirit Realm was forcefully opened, dark lightning cracked for a bit as the Blood Moon's eerie light shone down upon the palace and soon the crack fully opened, letting a corrupt gateway be the access to the alternate Realm, from it a golden figure crossed through summoned by the Chameleon's magic, after it had reformed completely it revealed the shape of a peacock before it fully formed into the Chameleon's target: Lord Shen. The peacock was fully summoned but began to make exhausted noises as he fell on one knee and then looked around, Shifu saw the summoning and just glared, he refused to give in to his fears.

"Where am I?" asked Lord Shen before looking at his summoner.

"Good to see you, Lord Shen, it's been a while."

"You!" glared Shen at her.

"Oh you do remember me? I'm flattered."

"What are you plotting? What did you bring me here for?"

"Ah, Shenny, always too angry. I will need your help for a scheme against the Dragon Warrior and... The World"

"The 'Dragon Warrior'? You mean the Panda?"

"Of course."

"I would have supported you before, but I have no further interest, all that chase did for me was ruin me. If you wish to bother me, then get lost! Or else!" he pointed a knife at the Chameleon who just grinned harder.

"Heh, I suppose that's how it is with you."

Shen reflectively threw a knife only for the Chameleon to change into a rhino before Shen even processed what happened.

She then punched him across the room and into a cage, causing Shen to cough in pain as he felt his back get hurt from the impact. He then got up and used his knives to try and get at her, only for the Chameleon to change into a cobra and dodge them with expertise, before increasing her size by changing into a python and coiling around a distracted Shen's body, she then slammed him around a bit before leaving him in pain on the ground and when he tried to reach for a knife he lost while fighting, she changed into Tai Lung and stomped on the wing he used to try and reach out, Shen tried to throw one last knife but the Chameleon caught it with her hand.

"Why is it always the hard way with you?"

She then used her tongue to drain Shen's powers, changed into his form now fully powered and kicked him into an open cage, Shen growled as he was defeated and caged.

"Oh dear, I guess I should've just done it from the beginning."

"You won't get away with whatever you're plotting."

"Hehe, I will, don't worry about this place, you'll have some company soon."

Shen attempted to bang on the cage to no avail and noticed he couldn't get room to throw a knife outside.

"Graahhh!"

"I thought he'd reached inner peace... Well, we got one more coming."

The Chameleon turned to the still opened crack and prepared for her next victim to be summoned.

"Next up: General Kai. Though I will have to pull his scattered essence back together for this."

Shifu looked with worry at what she said and began hoping things would fall in place soon.

"Po, please make it."

---

Li Shan and Ping had finally made it to Juniper and walked around, only to find the people going into hiding as the Blood Moon came. They tried to ask a tapir what was going on, but only got a quick shout response.

"Hey, pal, what's going on?"

"It's the Blood Moon! Hide for your lives!" he yelled before jumping into a barrel.

"Uh?"

"We must find Po, Li. Quick!"

"Right, got you."

Then as they ran through the streets and found themselves at a now empty square, they spotted Po carrying Tigress, the other Furious Five... And Tai Lung all running towards an abandoned corner.

"Son!" both shouted.

Po looked at them confused

"Wait, dads?"

"Po, we came to help!" said Li.

"What happened to-"

"No time for anything, just follow us."

"You sure this will work out, Monkey?" asked Po to his friend.

"Trust me, it will, there's a reason I talked things over with them."

"So we'll have to trust those... Thieves." said Tai Lung.

"They're our only hope of saving Tigress. They have to."

Viper and Crane looked worried at their injured friend too, hoping they would find the place in time and get the due help just right. They were being followed by a quick moving Zhen, who looked equally worried before resuming her chase, trailing behind them, Li and Ping; soon enough Po found the drum entrance and played them like Zhen did to get in, everyone jumped in with help from Po; except for Zhen who waited until everyone had already entered to jump in herself.

Notes:

And it's Shen's turn to get tongue-tied, at least he won't be alone for long.

BTW, Shen is on "not quite redeemed but still gave up on evil" territory.

Chapter 20: Regrets

Summary:

With Tigress' life on the line things get more stressful for the Masters, only Zhen can save the day, but will the others accept her once more for trying to owe up to her mistakes?

Notes:

And now it's time for the beginning of the atonement.

After entering the Den of Thieves, the rogues once more 'greeted' the group with weapons, but Monkey was able to make them stand down with support form the monkey thieves and the group was allowed passage as a favor. Han came to greet them personally and see what was their return for as there was another brief standoff.

"You, Panda, why are you back here?!" but Han gulped a bit as he looked at the Panda.

Po was in no mood for games or the likes, he just glared at Han and demanded his help, rather than ask.

"You, how can you help our friend?"

"If you think you can just barge in and-"

"I HAVE NO TIME FOR GAMES, HAVE YOU GOT ANY ANTIDOTES?! ANYTHING?! PLEASE!"

"Huh?"

Han's eyes widened at the proper sight of Tigress' wounded and poisoned body. Combined with Po's threat, he understood and had Tigress brought to a medical room. Once at the medical room, Po talked with Han on any means of saving his friend. A few doctors in the Thieves' lair patched up and helped disinfect her wounded eye, covering it with a set of bandages. After a few examinations, Han sighed sadly as he got word of his helpers from Tigress' condition and what she got attacked with.

"I'm sorry pal, but she's been struck by the only truly uncurable lethal agent: purified Black Mamba venom. The Chameleon's specialty."

"You can't be serious! There must be a way, tell me!"

Po shook Han in a panic and fury, his friends and family watching with great sympathy and simultaneously some horror at seeing Po this desperate.

"Only a servant of the Chameleon could possibly know. I'm no help here." claimed Han as he kept on being shook before Po let go, leaving him dizzy.

"No. This can't be. I can't let her die."

"Po, we, maybe there's really nothing we can do for her, but be there at her side." said sadly Viper as she and the rest glanced over at the dying Tigress. Po lowered his head went over with Tigress and began crying. Everyone came over to check on him.

"Tigress, I'm sorry. It's my fault, all because I had to be an idiot."

"Po, no." said Crane trying to calm him down. "This is not your fault."

"Oh come on, you know it is!"

"Son, we think you should stop blaming yourself."

"I can't!" said Po now angry. "All of this happened because I trusted Zhen, I should've listened to Shifu, to logic, to Tigress..."

"No, Po, it's not your fault she betrayed us." continued Mantis.

"Come on, I am the one who trusted Zhen and got swayed by her lies, I lent her the Staff of Wisdom, I fell for the Chameleon's ruse that's going to get Tigress killed! How's that not my fault!?" Po asked angrier than ever. "And after she dies, the Chameleon will destroy everything we care about..."

Even Tai Lung looked with sympathy at Po, the Dragon Warrior turning to him.

"You were right, Tai Lung, I am nothing but a poor choice for a Dragon Warrior. Oogway, Shifu, they should've picked anyone else; they all would've done it better than me. All I did was screw everything up and desperately fix the messes I created. I can't lead anyone, I can't truly help anyone, not without putting them in a worse spot than before." Po then grabbed Tigress' hand, feeling her trying to cling on to life despite everything. "I can't even help my friends..."

Tai Lung thought things over and went over to Po.

"I must say you're right, Po." at first the others were angered by his words but noticed a lack of his usual wit or mockery in them.

"Yeah, what's news here?"

"You indeed screwed everything up, ruined Shifu and are about to send his formerly most prized pupil to her death; all because you trusted someone undeserving of it."

"Right, I know."

"But, I don't think this should be the end of your story. After all, aren't you going to pass your title of Dragon Warrior?"

"If you want it, you can ask nicely, it means nothing to me."

"And so it does to me."

"Huh?"

"If you're just going to whine here about the failure you are, you will certainly remain it. Like I did once."

"But... What could I do to help Tigress? I can't leave her to die!"

"Maybe it's time to let go, Panda."

Just as Po felt there was no saving this, he turned to the half-conscious Tigress and prepared to confess something. 

"Tigress... I don't want to lose my possible only chance to say this but ever since I met you, I-I"

Tigress heard him and began to deduce what he'd say but was unable to speak up about it, just giving small breathes as she tried to talk back to him.

"Po, whatever is it that you want to tell me... I know what it is, and I feel the same way."

Before Po could continue, he heard a familiar not-so-pleasant to hear voice calling to him.

"Po!"

"Wait, is that?"

The fox thief ran fast towards Po and his group, ignoring the thieves of the Den's attempts to stop her, desperate to reunite with him, to truly and fully apologize, and to save her other former friend.

"Zhen?!" everyone asked at the same time.

"You have a lot of nerve coming here, young lady!" claimed Ping angrily.

"Yeah, Po told us all about you and we won't let you hurt him again!"

Zhen ignored them and their anger. "Po!" she shouted again before running to where he was, carrying her bag of supplies with her. She smiled at him with tears, and almost leapt to hug him and try to begin apologizing but backed off when she saw Po shooting her an angry glare, with reddened eyes from his crying.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in a cold manner unlike any before.

"I wanted to apologize... For everything."

Po for a second wanted to give her another chance but felt like hardening his heart.

"I don't believe you; I don't believe anything you say anymore."

Zhen felt even worse about Po trying to turn her away but also felt she had earned his scorn.

"Po, please, listen to me, I can help save Tigress. I know how to cure her."

"How can I trust what you're saying?!" he asked angrily. "You tricked me for days, you just wanted to steal from me, undermine me, leave me vulnerable!"

"I know, but... I really am sorry; I felt like I had no choice and I-."

"My friend is going to die because of you; I don't care to hear about any of your excuses!" Po replied still mad.

"Please, Po, I can help save her! Let me, please."

"I already said it, I want nothing from you."

However, realizing Po would fall victim to irrationality and make matters worse.

"Po, please, listen to her." shouted Viper, feeling a sense of empathy with the young thief. "I sense the emotions in her words, she is grieving as much as you. She feels remorse, she truly wants to help.."

"We can't let our anger have us avoid any way to help Tigress. If Zhen can at least try." Crane added.

Po sighed as he looked with a disappointed face at Zhen.

"If you're here to help, prove it."

"I will, I will." said Zhen sadly before bringing up a bunch of medicine, antidotes and potions and mixing them in a bowl.

"This will do the trick of purging out the toxins... So hold steady, Tigress."

 She prepared the concoction and made it into a broth. Po approached her, still wary of anything she may try.

"Give this to her, please, it's her only hope of living, she doesn't have much of any time left."

Po gave no answer as he just grabbed the plate and fed it to Tigress, putting a hand on her head to keep her steady and calm as she used whatever strength she had to try and cooperate.

"Please, don't die, Tigress. Be strong." said Monkey looking at her.

"I know how Tigress is, she will make it." claimed Viper, still scared but remaining strong for her old friend.

Mantis and Crane said other words of encouragement themselves and even Tai Lung gave some.

"I know she'll make it, or else Shifu will have failed too."

---

The Chameleon prepared her next moves and spun the Wisdom Staff in many ways while chanting an ancient spell, suddenly bits of green Chi flew into the Living Realm and began to mesh together, after she had finished her enchantment, she waited as the Chi melded together properly and brought back Kai, putting him back in one piece. The yak general opened his eyes in a panic.

"Wait, no, stop, I'll do whatever you want!" Kai was begging as he didn't want to be obliterated by the Chi he was overloaded with, a sentence to oblivion... Or so he thought.

"Calm down, old man, you're back in one piece."

"Wait, where am I?"

"Welcome back to life, General Kai."

Kai looked at the Chameleon and raised an eyebrow.

"Now, just who are you?"

"Name's the Chameleon."

"Never heard of you in my life."

"I know you haven't, but let's get on with business."

"What kind of business?"

"Some harmless, old-school business my dear."

Kai didn't even think twice before attacking, using his rushing moves and similar blows to try and take down the Chameleon, even unveiling his Jade Blades to fight.

"Good to see, I restored the whole of you." said the Chameleon easily dodging his moves, before Kai could even react, she changed into a wolf and ran around him, before changing into a tiger and grabbing his arm and slamming Kai into the ground, the ghost warrior recovered quickly and attempted to chain her up.

"Stay still, will you?"

"I am afraid I cannot." she gloated before turning into a grasshopper and flying away from the chains and then turning into a cobra to try and bite him, making Kai flinch and recoil back. Kai tried a few more blows with his Jade Blades but she turned into both Shifu and Tai Lung and stuck them onto the ground, before running up to Kai and transforming into a rhinoceros to pin him underfoot, Kai was trapped underneath his opponent and had an idea to try and deliver a big blow to the chest to get unpinned, until instead of keeping the fight going, the Chameleon just used her ability to steal his techniques, leaving him weak. Without much more fanfare, she kicked him into a cage, sending him spinning wildly.

"There we go, all packed up. Next up a few more faces."

"You haven't seen the last of ow!" 

Kai clutched his hurt foot after kicking the cage he was in, leaving his captor smirking at her success at trapping him before she moved on to keep on summoning a few more Masters from the Spirit Realm, including Masters Thundering and Flying Rhino, the Badger Twins, Dolphin, Porcupine, Elephant, Bull, Wolf, Hippopotamus, Gorilla, Ostrich and others; though she refused to summon Oogway, believing that the old tortoise might have some trick up his sleeve. She'd have to either leave him to rot alone on the Spirit Realm or hope that she can become strong enough to put him down if she does bring him back. After she'd all but emptied the Spirit Realm of both heroic and villainous masters alike, she called forth a few of her lead minions.

"Larry, Weimin, Cobra, Jin, Bie, Yang, Zie!"

A bunch of komodo dragons, snapping turtles and water monitors stepped forward.

"What is it, dear mother?"

"I'll give you some gifts to help catch some pesky masters and whoever tries and help them. Tell them all, that my reign has begun, and they better join into the audience or else I'll make them regret it." she then used her magic to transfer some of the techniques she got from the masters to her chosen troops, strengthening them. "Now go, leave no spot unchecked!"

"At once!" all of them said before departing with several troops each to go looking for all the masters across China they could, the Chameleon smirked as she looked at all the other masters, defeated and tired.

"Now you and your living counterparts will see the rise of my reign so make yourselves at home in the meanwhile, I got many scores to settle, and the one I have with Kung Fu shall be the first to be fulfilled!"

Notes:

And now Kai has been busted, RIP the yak (I prefer him being a yak than a bull)

Chapter 21: Forgiveness

Summary:

As things finally get better, Zhen decides it's time for Po to truly know what her complete and unfiltered past really is like.

Notes:

Here we go, near the climax and in time for Christmas. Might speed up the next chapters if I got time in the Holidays

In Gongmen City, an overwhelmed and surrendering Master Croc was shoved into a cage as Weimin and his squadron had managed to get him to stand down under their threat.

"Hehe, seems like you froze up real bad, Master Croc." said the Komodo dragon mockingly. "Boop dee doop dee doo!"

"You will not defeat us all."

"Not me, but all of my brothers and sisters can beat down the rest of your Kung Fu masters across China."

"Better stay seated, Master Croc." said the Soothsayer mockingly. "We are about to have some entertainment after a long boring ride."

"I suppose."

"Worry not, the Dragon Warrior and their allies will have it under control."

"What do you mean by 'Their'? Isn't Po y'know, a guy?"

"I believe a change is coming, Master Croc, better be ready for it."

"Hey, you two quiet, off we go with the Chameleon!"

A pair of water monitors escorted the group to Juniper on fast-moving boat. Other villages of China were similarly conquered or raided, with the living Kung Fu masters like Bear, Chicken, Boar, Eagle, Lizard, Ox, Chao, Rooster, Elephant II, Ram, Snow Leopard and more were captured by the forces of the Chameleon, who were fast-moving enough to clear out the nearby cities in a matter of a few days, but in those few days more things happened along.

---

Tigress began to recover as she coughed, spitting out the poison previously in her system, she recovered her senses and looked around seeing her concerned friends looking over her and in relief over her managing to survive, but mostly Po who was looking over her directly, having given her the treatment to save her life.

"P-Po?" she asked weakly. "Is it you?"

"Yes, Tigress, it's me."

"It's good to see you..." she smiled at him, shocking the rest of the occupants who rarely saw her face get warm like that.

"We're losing her!" shouted Crane in a panic before calming down. "Oh sorry, her reaction caught me off-guard."

Po noticed Zhen in a corner fiddling with a cookie in her hands and only taking small bits of it to eat.

"Zhen."

"What's the matter, Panda?" she asked in a dejected, sad tone.

"Look, I want to talk with you about everything."

"Go on."

"Zhen, I want the truth, the full truth of it all. Of your past, your motives you want me to forgive you, I need to know you."

"I see."

"So, I can know who you really are. I want to trust you, but I can't as long as I don't know what you really are."

"Well, this it, Panda. Time for the crude truth."

Zhen sighed as she for once decided to be honest."

"You see, I didn't mention why I really left the Thieves but it's time that everyone out of the loop knows." she said while glancing at an angry Han.

"I'm listening." said Po sitting down with her.

"It was... 15 years ago, when it happened, when I left."

---

An argument was breaking out between Zhen and Han, the former was a few years older than when she was adopted, a pre-teen.

"Why can't I go with you?"

"After what happened last year."

"Come on, it was a simple mistake."

"For the last time, Zhen, you do not steal from a caravan of the Chameleon! That's not just a 'mistake'!"

"Why is it always 'Do not do this Zhen!' with you? I wanted to get one of those precious red stones for you."

"We can't risk things too much, Zhen, we're thieves not suicidal lunatics. A red stone isn't worth you getting compromised."

"Maybe it is."

"No, it's not, you can't leave the Den at times like that."

"Please, you never let me leave the Den for too long anyway."

"You're too young, too inexperienced and too reckless."

"Come on, I took care of myself in the streets for years!"

"Those scars from your childhood say otherwise."

"Alright, I got some beatings and scratches but so what? Everyone's got them here."

"It's not about how they gave you a beating Zhen, it's about all our safeties, you've got yet to cover your tracks properly, last time we had to guide the guards into a pub to lose track of them, if those guards get you, they'll beat you up and then find us and retaliate against us as a whole."

"Oh, so now you think I can't do things properly?"

"You are good at stealing, Zhen, at swooping things from underneath some sucker's nose but that hardly makes you a proper master thief in this city."

"Come on, just let me out again with you, I can help this time, I won't fail!"

"No, not again, only the necessary thieves come with me, you stay here with the others they'll watch over you in the meantime."

"But-Han-I."

"No 'buts', Zhen. You'll find a way to entertain yourself. One day you'll be ready but not now."

"Please, give me a chance to be more. This place gets boring to stay in."

"Not again, Zhen. And make do with what you can. Everyone, the festival's starting in 30 minutes, are our casual clothes ready?"

"Eeyup." said a mustang horse thief with a straw hat.

"Got em'." replied a goat thief wearing a feathery collar.

"Always in fashion here." said a boar thief wearing a feathery hat.

"Well, odd choices but off we go, the rest stay here and out of trouble, it won't take longer than a few hours for the ceremony to finish."

The other thieves voiced their agreements and followed Han to the upper city, Zhen looked sadly as they left but huffed and decided to sneak out after all.

"I'll get you one of those gems, Han, you'll be proud of me, I'm sure!"

The other thieves didn't notice her packing her tools and running off to see where her mentor/father figure was going. On the surface, fireworks indicated the celebration of an important festival. Many komodo dragons marched carrying carts with tributes to the Chameleon, with one adorned by a golden statue of a peach tree with valuable rubies as its "fruit" carrying the sorceress herself as the center attraction, she received cheers from the populace, many forced on them by her threat which she was willing to bask in anyway. Han and the others weren't any different, throwing out their praise to seem supportive, even if deep down they had no lost love for the Chameleon or her deeds across Juniper, once she made a motion all the thieves bowed as did the entirety of Juniper and the Chameleon closed her eyes and outstretched her arms to bask in the praise... Not noticing a small fox making her way into the caravan and trying to take the gems out of it.

"You'll finally see what I'm made of, Han."

Then Han noticed her, and she glanced at him from afar, the pangolin motioned her to come down without giving himself away, trying to tell Zhen to get down and back to him, but she refused, she would get the gem and earn his full trust and respect as a thief... Or so she thought and wished she would have, for as soon as she grabbed the precious stone a prehensile tail grabbed her and brought her face-to-face with the Chameleon herself who smirked at the little thief.

"Oh, aren't you a cute thing stealing, from an old lady like me?"

"P-Please, don't hurt me!"

Han tried to speak up but froze when a few of the Chameleon's guards pointed weapons at him and instructed him to get back in line with the others bowing.

"Hurt you? Oh, don't be silly dear."

"Huh?"

The Chameleon put her down next to her spot in her carnival throne and gave the ruby to her.

"Why are you giving me this?"

"You've earned it, and that's only the beginning of your real criminal career."

"Really?"

"Yes, I can take you in, I'll make a great thief out of you, with endless riches. No limitations for you of any kind. Not for such a smart one."

"I'm in."

"Good, now you gotta learn your first rule: Never trust anyone."

But in her excitement, she forgot about one thing. One important thing. Or rather, family. She glanced back as she made herself comfortable in the Chameleon's position but saw Han trying to call her back, she felt tempted to go and looked doubtful until she shook her head and remained in the Chameleon's presence, without further ado the thief was carried away by the sorceress to be her next and newest adoptee. Han was devastated as were the rest of the thieves who watched the young thief leave them behind, discard them as mere trash, sadly.

"Zhen, why?"

---

Those words echoed in the present, with a distraught Po looking at her.

"I told you before, they were using me, she... gave me an offer I couldn't help but accept."

"But you had a home here they wanted to keep you safe."

"I know, but I just couldn't let myself be small and helpless again, I didn't want to stay here if all I got was limitations."

"Well, you're free to leave anytime soon, Zhen." said Han still bitter at what happened.

"I know. But first, Po, this time I truly am sorry for what happened."

"... Zhen."

"Don't worry, just go on with your life, I already did my part here." she put on her hood and prepared to leave. "Just go and stop the Chameleon when you're all ready."

"Where would you go, thief?" asked a confused Tai Lung.

"Anyplace she can't find me. Or at least where I can divert her forces. Where no one can."

"Wait, Zhen, don't go!" shouted Po.

"Huh?" she looked back, confused.

"Look, I might not still be so sure on trusting you even after all this, but I kind of want to not hold a grudge forever." he relaxed more. "In fact, I think I can see where you come form but I also gotta say something else to you."

"And that is."

"You're way too hung up on the past, and worrying too much about the future too."

"What do you mean?"

"You feared coming back here because of what happened and I kinda think you feared what the Chameleon could do to you if you failed."

"Alright, you kind of caught me."

"Not only that, but you fear that because of what you were born into you would never have a true future unless you did bad stuff."

"Hey, I do have-" she then looked around. "Oh, you're right."

"But the point is all that stuff is pointless to worry about for this long."

"Wait, are you saying I should 'move on'?"

"Of course! Look, long ago I also worried about the past and just a few days ago I worried about my future but I learned many important things about change and letting go of whatever happened to you prior."

"But, I said it not long ago, I don't have anywhere else to go if we defeat the Chameleon."

"Hey, look, if I could go from some noodle seller to a kung fu warrior, I think you could get anywhere if you try hard enough and seek out the opportunities. Nobody said this whole 'live in the moment, steal from the innocents and serve an evil jerk' gig has to be a forever thing."

"But the Chameleon told me, Kung Fu masters don't accept everybody, only those who fit in with them."

"And that's wrong on their parts." added Tigress getting up from her bed.

"Huh?"

"Alright, Tigress, you're on."

"Look, Zhen, what you did was bad but... You're not even close to how bad some Kung Fu Masters were before us."

"Like me, I was a thief too." said Monkey.

"I was never bad but was just a kinda mediocre dancer." said sheepishly Viper.

"I was a janitor, I'll never get over the port-a-potty traumas." followed up Crane, shivering a bit.

"I was an absolute disgrace of a doctor myself, I think I actually lost a fair amount of lives because I kept giving the wrong treatment."

"At least you're good at acupuncture, Mantis."

"Thanks for the compliment."

"But, those are mostly odd jobs and one guy like me in the monkey." Zhen replied, still not convinced of Po's points.

"But do you know about Oogway?"

"That tortoise that kept spouting some wisdomly mush everywhere he went?" she asked confused still.

"He was pretty terrible actually, was a super evil conqueror that worked alongside General Kai!"

"Who?"

"Long story but the point is, he was a real bad guy, worse than most, yet when he was able to see the present for what it is, he changed and became the greatest Kung Fu disciplinarian of all time. The best master is Shifu, though."

"So, you're saying."

"Maybe this will be another nonsensical philosophy rant but... If you do good now, it will become more, you will find your peace this way."

"But if we fail? If I fail at being good."

"You can just try again, I mean you're a thief, where else would you go at rock bottom?"

"Nowhere. I just don't think this is my suit, or what I know to do."

"Look, again, when life gives you lemonades... You make pear juice and blow everyone's mind!"

Tai Lung looked confused at the others who were wondering what he meant.

"Uh, what's that mean?"

"See, I sucked at making philosophy! I can't be a Spiritual Leader... Yet, I guess."

"But wait. I get it!"

"You did-Err, I mean yeah!"

"Just staying where I am is not good, I think I've been limiting myself for so long."

"That's right! Look, your moves, your techniques, your tricks, I see a potential in you to do good. But you can only reach it if you try."

"Are you sure? How can I be sure that you're not lying or using me."

"I'm not telling you to call me the greatest guy ever but... I'll let you decide, we'll go with the Chameleon and stop her once and for all, after I get my Staff back."

"Then... I'm coming with you. I don't know if I'll succeed or lose but... I wanna try this for once."

Po smiled at her.

"Oh, and another thing, you can only heal by making amends so get on with apologizing to the thieves."

"Wait."

"What's that you cannot apologize?"

"I can but, are you sure just your ragtag group can take on the entire force of the Chameleon?"

Po thought over of their last confrontation and figured she'd be stronger and they'd be outnumbered again.

"Err, kinda?"

"Well, that's just wrong."

"She's right, Po, she already saw us in action we cannot do anything she doesn't know already." added Tai Lung.

"And if those arrows nail us we'll be goners for sure." also added Tigress.

"But we can't get an army right now!"

"Says you. But look around."

Po looked at the thieves of the Den and wondered for a bit, with the Five, Zhen and Tai Lung waiting for him to make a decision, Ping and Li looked at each other growing annoyed Po couldn't take an obvious hint.

"Ooooohhhhh, you mean the thieves of the Den!"

"Took you long enough." joked Zhen.

Han however crossed his arms, as did the rest of the thieves.

"Nuh uh, we already made our stance clear."

"Look, Han, you don't have to trust me."

"I won't ever."

"Fine, I'm sorry." she said in an annoyed tone.

"You can't even lie to sway us, Zhen."

"Urgh, fine, I am real sorry for all I did, I shouldn't have left you like that."

"Uh huh, still no."

"Urgh, this is pointless, Po." argued Zhen.

"Well, Monkey you of any help?"

Monkey jumped in with Han and talked amicably with him. Han heard a few words whispered in his ear and nodded before going over to Zhen and Po with a half-annoyed look.

"Alright, your monkey friend made some points but retort on them, Panda and Zhen."

"Well, I go first you guys can do so much more than just evil today!" started Po.

"The Chameleon won't stop at just Kung Fu Masters, you're all on borrowed time."

"Hey, at least we can spend our twilight years in peace before being eviscerated and cooked." claimed a horse thief.

"But will you just coop up and die."

"Just like rats." snarked Tai Lung only to be kicked in the leg by a small brown rat thief.

"Still offensive, sir!"

"I mean if we go we die, if we don't go we die. I prefer to stay comfortable." said a goat thief.

"Come on, you're giving up?" asked Po.

"Ye." replied a tortoise bandit.

"No way, uhm."

"I can try, Po." added Zhen. "Now listen, if you help us you'd not only survive but also be rid of the Chameleon. For good."

The thieves talked among themselves. The Five all looked happy as the crowd changed their minds. Han wasn't too convinced still.

"How are you so sure?"

"Because I have faith in my... Err, friends."

The thieves went silent for a bit.

"And not just that, but Po said it first if we good now we can change our faiths as mere lowlife thieves."

"Uh? What?" asked a boar thief before looking at an equally confused wolf thief.

Then Han realized what she meant (or thought so).

"Wait, I get it, if we do good today we can crush the Chameleon and do more evil for the rest of our lives and just the way we want it!"

"No, that's not what I meant!" Zhen tried to clear her words.

"Sshh, this actually works, thief." said Tai Lung noticing the thieves getting excited.

"Down with the Chameleon!" chanted the crowd.

Zhen was impressed at what happened but looked at Po.

"Okay, so I wanted them to do good for good's sake but-."

"Look, if it helps us when they do good for bad reasons then we can take it. Not all enjoyable restaurants are so because of good food."

"Hey, that's more understandable, you could do with food metaphors."

"Yeah, I guess so-"

"Hey Po!" said Tigress now back in full health. "We got to get ready if we already got them on our side."

"Tigress, I recommend you stay behind you got hurt and-"

She twisted his arm albeit not harming him much.

"Alright, alright, point taken." said Po in a higher pitched voice before she let go, causing him to clutch his arm in pain.

"Well, now we gotta plan our attack don't we?" asked Li.

"Yeah, double dad defense might not be cut out."

"Double what?" asked Tai Lung.

"It's something they came up with, those two." replied Tigress.

"Right."

"Let's go, off to save Kung Fu... For the third time? Or was it the fourth? I lost count."

The rest of the Five all shrugged.

"Nevermind, this is how we'll do things!" began Po as he planned how things will develop in their next move to defeat the Chameleon, with theives and masters gathering around him as he took a table and used a map of Juniper City to ilustrate his points.

Notes:

Felt it would've been better to have Po and Zhen fully explain the story of her past with each other rather than at the Chameleon's place and with Zhen doing the talking. And now we've got the setup for reunions set, time for the next step.

Chapter 22: One Last Plan

Summary:

Po and his allies make the plan for the ultimate move against the Chameleon, meanwhile with her rituals finished the Chameleon's prisoners fully take it in and rationalize what will happen if the Dragon Warrior is not victorious

Notes:

Happy Belated New Year

In the Chameleon's Temple, the various captured Masters all discussed among themselves.

"Why are we kept alive?" asked Master Bear who futilely tried to break open his cage.

"Yeah, what use are we like this?" replied Master Ox as he kicked a cage rather ineffectively.

"The Chameleon probably wants to watch us squirm like this while she celebrates her victory!" shouted one of the caged Badger Twins.

"Or she could want us to work as her slaves!" shouted Master Croc.

The Soothsayer just chuckled a bit.

"Do not worry about that possibility, for it is not what she wants any of us for."

Several masters were confused and even Kai and Shen, the latter who was by her side.

"It appears she needs to have an audience to brag to, a way to remind herself of the scope of her victory. Compensating for a lack of it."

"Oh, that sounds about right." said Kai thinking to himself.

"We must not let her insults or else get to us." said the Soothsayer again. "Or else she truly would have won."

"Okay, okay, heard ya." said Croc trying to get over his anxiety at the moment.

Shen then turned to his former caretaker and spoke in a slightly low and respectful but still somewhat angry tone.

"What are you here for, Soothsayer? You're not exactly a fighter."

"Can't a defenseless old lady take a nice vacation in some cages? With old friends along the ride." she joked, causing Shen to chuckle a bit.

"You have a terrible sense of humor."

"I know. And you have a lot more peace than last time I saw you."

"You were right about your dumb prophecies or whatever it was. There, happy?" he said annoyed.

"Of course, I am. Though I must admit you don't look fully at peace yet, Shen."

"How can I be in this scenario?!"

"I wasn't saying you had to be just now. Just that you did find some of it."

"Some of it? How can you say that when we're stuck in this mess of the Panda's making! In fact, I am now worse than ever"

"If that is what you actually feel, I want to ask if you are not at least clear of the burden of your prophecy?"

Shen's eyes widened a bit at what she told him.

"I..."

"And realized your old path was most wrong to follow."

"Huh."

"Shen, you've seen for yourself that you could've become just like her if you hadn't been stopped."

They both glanced at the Chameleon basking in her victory as she played around with the darkened Staff.

"Showoff."

"You know her well; she helped you out for a while until your worldviews clashed too much, then you two parted ways with the knowledge each gained."

"Alright, you do have a point there, she stole my metalworks ideas, but so what!? We're going to be rotting here while she takes over China and the world, it's a big loss for everyone!"

"Not entirely, you should know a Panda will be here soon."

"The one who beat me?"

"Not just that one, but another you've hurt."

"Wait, there are more still!?"

"Took you long enough to figure it out."

"And how is that less of a loss!"

"Because when you meet him, it might be your one chance of making peace with the last vestige of your troubled past."

Shen got a bit down while Croc, Ox and Rhino spoke up.

"Not sure if that is a good idea." said Croc.

"Yeah, he destroyed the Pandas, wiped their old settlement." added Ox.

"If that other Panda is to meet Shen, they would not like the sight of him." continued Thundering Rhino. "What he did was unforgivable."

"They're right, this cannot end well."

"Unless you truly apologize."

"What's an apology meant to do!? It won't heal a thing, and... What I did is nothing that can be fixed!"

"But perhaps letting the other know you regret your choices will put the last of your inner turmoil at rest, even if you are not given forgivance for it."

"I don't think so."

"Maybe that's what you think, Shen, but it'll be up to you to choose what to do next."

With that the two were left to think while Kai overheard and also thought back about his own issues, for some reason now being the one small and weakened was affecting him in a short time, maybe he had some atoning to do too?

---

In the Lair of the Thieves, Po and his allies finished their plans after a few days of preparations and planning, as well as letting Tigress fully recover from the aftereffects of her experiences. Po laid out the final terms of their plans.

"Okay, so we're gonna divide ourselves for this, we need to get in again and stop the Chameleon but we won't unless we put in real effort."

"I can lead a squad, Po, just like before." said Viper.

"Alright, so who goes with her. We can't afford a lack of pairs anymore. Once we're all done with the soldiers, we move in for the confrontation with the Chameleon herself"

"Right." said Tigress.

"My dads, you'll be escorted by Tai Lung and Zhen."

"Oh, to put up with... Err... You." said Ping nervously looking at the snow leopard who just shrugged at his fear.

"He seems way nicer than in the posters you hung up."

"And fluffier." teased Zhen jokingly as she grabbed Tai's tail.

"I am not nice nor cute."

"Alright, made your point, Tai."

"Now, Dragon Warrior, how are a group of thieves and a pair of... dads going to be of help?"

"Look, those lizard soldiers are dangerous, but our group know how to navigate around fights."

"We'll let you know we fought Kai's army of Chi demons."

"The Jombies." claimed Monkey and Po at the same time. "Jinx!" again both responded simultaneously.

"Sure thing but those were mindless drones, what about thinking enemies!?"

"Well, thinking enemies have a weakness..." 

Then 3 rabbit children bit Po on the chest and belly causing him to scream for a bit.

"I see." joked Tai Lung as Po shook them off.

"Yeah, they may be tough but they're still (probably) capable of feeling pain, we can just beat them over with enough numbers and properly arranged."

"Enough numbers should be able to reduce their effectiveness as a team." added Tigress.

"I agree, though are you sure they won't hurt the thieves much?" asked Viper. "We don't want to pointlessly risk anyone's lives."

"Well, any heroic action will have danger involved, but if we don't take a risk with this we lose either way so..." said Po looking at the side.

"Right, no need to reiterate that, panda." said Han.

"See, he gets it!"

"So, is that it? How are we dealing with the Chameleon? She'll just steal our Kung Fu at once!" complained Tai Lung.

"That's why we'll use the dumpling bowl formation."

"The what now?"

"Dumpling bowl formation. We'll roll around, prevent her from having a chance to tag us and when she least expects it, we strike... With shields, she can't drain a rock or metal plate from Kung Fu."

"And with the guards taken care of by our allies it should go smoothly." added Monkey. "I can help lead a few charges."

"But we gotta reunite at the end." said Po. "Anyone got questions about the plan?"

Everyone else in the room raised their hands and Po groaned.

"One question at time."

As he adressed their concerns, Zhen in a corner now began to worry if she would be able to stand up and fight the Chameleon head-on, or would prefer to stay back in a safer spot and let Po and his close friends handle it. She began to work towards her inner turmoil until Tai Lung walked up to her.

"You're going to help on the front or stay back?"

"Ehm."

"Don't answer me that, do it yourself."

"I will. I guess."

"I do hope you don't betray us again."

"Won't do."

"Then you also gotta talk with Tigress over there. Before we part there."

"So, what are you going to do if we defeat the Chameleon."

"When we have beaten that stupid lizard, I'll settle the score with the so-called Dragon Warrior. I should be able to win this time around."

"But is that all you want to do? Just beat him up and lose then die or win and... what would you even do?"

"I-"

"Don't answer me that, Mister."

"Hey, you can't turn my type of questions on me!"

"Heh, maybe we should both figure it out."

Tai Lung chuckled and just went back to checking on Po's plans.

Notes:

Now that the talk's outta the way, we shall have more stuff and action

Chapter 23: Master Po

Summary:

Right before going to confront the Chameleon, Po's dynamic with Zhen takes a big change.

With the Five ready and the rest of the thieves getting geared up, Po was meditating by himself in a lone room, hoping to clear his mind before the big event.

"Inner peace. Think of peaceful things."

He thought back to the usual stuff at first, noodles, buns, his Kung Fu moves, all the things that made him feel safe; but then thought over to the more important things, such as his dads, his friends in the  Five, his... almost-more-than-a-friend, Tigress... Suddenly being at ease with his mind wasn't so easy itself. Sure, Tigress lived and everyone was safe but possibly losing her or anyone else would hurt him, he was beginning to doubt if he could be careful enough to keep his friends safe...His concentration was then broken over by Zhen coming to see him.

"Hey, Panda."

"Zhen? Whoa."

"Look, I still feel bad about the stuff back there. About the whole putting you and others in danger for the sake of the Chameleon and-"

"Past is in the past, Zhen. All that matters is that you made up for it."

"Whoa, you forgive easy."

"Be honest with ya, I can't keep grudges for long, like I'm physically incapable of it."

"Hehe, and I'm the opposite of it. I can't let go of any."

"Well, enough about that, you know I forgive you for the past things that happened and everything."

"Yeah, I know now but... I was wondering if you could... Erm, I don't know, tell me how to do that awesome Kung Fu stuff you do? Or something like that" Zhen hid her face and spoke lowly, fearful of what answer she'd get from Po.

"Oh, are you interested now in being a master?!" Po said excitedly.

"Yeah, sure, I guess." Zhen said as she looked to the side still hiding her face.

"Well, that's all I needed to hear... But why?" he asked sincerely but not maliciously.

"I... Want to do better... And I kinda envy your sick moves and the whole Chi stuff you do."

Po smirked satisfyingly.

"Man, it's been a while since I've had to teach newbies so..." he said before stretching a bit.

"So what?"

"Well, just to make sure of a few things. I'll need you to ask for this."

"For..."

"Me to teach you."

"Oh right, right... Then can you teach me?" she asked now confidently and a bit innocently.

"Wanna learn Kung Fu, Zhen?"

"Yes, I do." she said still confidently and serious.

"Then, I'll be honored to be your master."

"Ohoho, sweet." said Zhen.

"But not much lessons for now in here. We'll get one on the move."

"I can work just fine under pressure, let's go!"

With that Po and Zhen readied themselves for the final run against the Chameleon. The groups set off to raid the Temple, remembering to use Po's plans and this time ensure they stop the Chameleon's scheme.

---

Zhen had been missing for a while; it was beginning to worry her. The Chameleon never particularly cared for Zhen as a person, but the knowledge she held was invaluable and could pose a threat if leaked to her enemies without it being a gambit on her part.

"Where are you, little thief?" she said to herself pacing around the ceremony room, the dimensional gate now closed albeit the Staff of Wisdom remained corrupted as she held it.

She then issued the crime bosses to summon her minions to her special room and they did so. Once all her non-guard troops were inside, the Chameleon just stood angrily as she questioned each and every last one of them, only at the end did her patience began to erode as she realized Zhen would not come back on her own.

"I ask of you, where did she go?" she asked a snapping turtle guard who gulped.

"I-I don't know."

She smacked him with her tail, knocking him over on the ground then turned to a komodo dragon guard, who was trembling.

"Do you know?"

"No, ma'am."

With that she struck him in the gut, leaving him in pain on the ground.

"I wish I didn't need them so I could just get it over with for good." she thought to herself as her soldier was curling on the ground clutching the spot she struck him in.

"And you, Weimin?"

"Err, she left, to err look for... err"

Weimin gulped as the Chameleon glared intensely at him.

"FOR WHAT?!" she screamed at him, her anger reaching its tipping point.

"I don't know!"

She then shifted her tail into a longer one and wrapped it around his neck.

"Give me a good reason not to twist your neck for your failure." her eyes were almost bulging from anger.

"I-I-Swear, I'll make it up to you, mother."

"DO NOT CALL ME MOTHER, UNTIL YOU'VE FIXED THIS MESS!" she said before throwing him on the ground.

She then summoned a large battalion of her soldiers.

"Find Zhen bring her here at all costs, take out anyone who tries and impede you. And, if she resists... You're free to take her out as well."

"Understood." said a snapping turtle guard.

"Man, I kinda liked her. She had a fluffy tail." said Larry.

"We won't need her after this, though, hahaha." gloated a komodo dragon. "If we're lucky we can keep her tail as a good luck charm."

"oooh, macabre." replied Larry.

The soldiers she had summoned then left. While her empowered troops remained at her side.

"You all are needed here, Zhen very likely ran to help the Dragon Warrior, if she is smart she won't come back at all."

"I kinda feel she will, n-no offense." said a water monitor with a hand rubbing his neck in nervousness.

"Anyways, our goodwill with her is extinguished, and if she pushes on with this rebellion. We might have to snuff her out after all."

They all stayed on guard watching the captive masters before awaiting the raid on their temple.

---

Po and Zhen ran closely together through the streets of Juniper, with Po awaiting to teach her at the right moment. Behind them were the rest of their makeshift mixed group.

"So... What's the first lesson?"

"First lesson's gonna be tough, coz we're gonna be taking on a big bad guy."

"Oh, I couldn't tell."

"Hey, it worked for me."

Tai Lung ran nearby and snarked at both.

"Didn't you train for weeks with Shifu before facing me, Panda?"

"I mean, yes, but I doubt that'll be enough to rival every scroll in the Jade Temple."

"Heh, I see you respect power and skill."

"I respect Tigress, yes."

Tai Lung just put on an unamused face.

"Son, not sure if now is the time for lessons!" said Ping a bit scared. "We could end up with our goose cooked. And that would be me, served with delicious orange sauce!"

"Relax dad, we're not gonna be losing anyone here." he said.

"Well, back on training what's going to be in it here?" said Zhen desperately.

Tigress showed up alongside her, now sporting an eyepatch.

"You should let Po choose when." she said patiently.

"Oh whoa, you look sick with that eyepatch, kitty." remarked Zhen impressed by how fiercer Tigress looked.

"Like an awesome sexy pirate!" said Po, letting his thoughts slip again as he admired her new look. 

Everyone stopped for a second, as Tigress turned to Po, embarrassed.

"You... Think I look good?" she asked innocently.

"I... mean, yeah, because you got a cool... eyepatch, it matches your stripes."

Zhen just laughed as the other Five showed up on time to hear it and be shocked while Tai Lung stared in incredibility with the thieves.

"Po, you really should just keep things to yourself." said Crane with a bit of second-hand embarrassment.

"No, I actually like where this awkwardness is going." joked Tai Lung who got hit by Viper's tail in response. "Ow, what'd I do?"

"Okay, maybe keep my mouth shut until we reach the palace..." said Po awkwardly before not looking at anyone else. "Gotta focus on getting back that Staff and taeching Zhen... Also rescuing Shifu and whoever else the Chamileion gets, urgh, this whole multitasking stuff is overwhelming." he groaned.

Ping and Li gigled a bit at Po's slip as they were left a bit behind the group.

"Oh, he still can't flirt or express his feelings." joked Ping.

"Just like me." responded Li.

"Well, I hope you got your role in this distraction, ready." said Ping.

"Always do." added Li.

Zhen caught up once more to Po and rode on his back as he ran.

"I'm ready for whatever you say."

Han rolled up to Po and heard him out.

"So, are we kickstarting the plan's first step now or...?"

"That we are, just do as we practiced and discussed. Oh, and please keep yourselves safe. Everyone." Po responded in a serious tone.

"Will do, Po." Zhen replied.

The thieves and masters all spread across the outskirts of the Chameleon's Temple, now ready to begin a true raid and takeover of the fortress.

Chapter 24: Dividing and Advancing

Summary:

When the crime bosses stand in their way, Po takes the chance to help Zhen get used to being a Kung Fu Warrior.

Notes:

Sorry to everyone for the delay, but now has come the update of the day

The crime bosses sent by the Chameleon had gotten a headstart and were now closer to the Masters than before. Fu-Xi had stayed behind the whole group as his back still hurt, while Scott, Damo, Barsuk and Gobbi were each leading a charge in separate tunnels for each of the forces sent to guard.

"Alright, they got us once but not again!" gloated Scott.

"I'll mince em' good for real." claimed Gobbi.

"And I will... err, get revenge for being fooled!" claimed Fung alongside his band of crocs and gharials while behind Scott.

Klaus and Veruca were doubtful about still going.

"We got our pay already. Can't we take a chance to not participate for once?"

"Careful, Veruca, one wrong move and we get added to the hitlist of the Chameleon."

"Ugh, but if something goes wrong, I'm ditching this mess." 

"So am I." claimed Barsuk tiredly.

They all marched forth, each protecting a different part of the path to the temple to avoid anyone getting in, at the very bottom of the path and as the main defense stood Kang alongside a few komodo guards, keeping recent arrivals away.

Just then the group saw Mr. Ping and Li come forward, carrying a box of noodles with them along with advertisements for their restaurant.

"Uh, did someone order some noodles?" asked a komodo guard.

Kang, the wolf, stepped forward growling.

"No one did."

"Okay, I might've gotten the wrong address and-"

Ping honked in panic as multiple komodo dragons surrounded him and Li with both raising their hands in surrender.

"Hey, everyone, no need to rag on an old goose and his old panda hubby."

"You two are certainly dumb if you thought you'll get away with this little trick, you're with the Panda and... Zhen, aren't you?" asked the wolf looming menacingly over the duo.

"Which panda? I know more than one."

"Yeah. I am right here." joked Li causing the guards besides Kang to chuckle.

"And which Zhen? There are at least 2 in this country!"

"Stop stalling!" shouted Kang in annoyance.

They didn't notice Ping and Li looking to the sides, giving silent signals to the concealed masters on when and where to strike.

"Anyways, we might need to keep you two locked up or dead. To avoid witnesses." said the wolf as he grabbed Ping by the neck.

"Okay, okay, maybe you want to do that." he then changed to a smug expression. "But you might not need to after all."

"Huh?"

Li then quickly passed him a cup with pepper spice in it and threw it in Kang's face, causing him to scream and drop the goose to the ground.

"That's a preview of my tongue-evaporating spicy noodles. 10% off on your second round after 30 min-AH" yelled Ping as a blade flew near him before Li grabbed him and ran away, with the Komodo guards chasing him in retaliation for his offense. However, Kang realized too late what he may be doing.

"You fools, don't follow him! He's tricking you." Kang tried to clean his eyes before feeling someone tap his shoulder.

"Yes, he is." said a friendly voice as Po, who had sneaked from behind, was standing next to him and punched him hard enough to leave him unconscious. "Operation Fake Delivery worked." he said triumphantly.

"I thought Fake Delivery was the one where we hid in the merchandise." asked Crane as he suddenly showed up near Po.

"That was False Delivery." clarified Po

"Oh right, it's honestly confusing." Mantis clarified coming out from behind Crane's hat.

"Nevermind that, let's go."

With that, a pack of komodo soldiers came running in all fours, Zhen gulped but Po smirked as he prepared his attack.

"Okay, here's the first lesson, Zhen, so listen well."

He jumped up as a group rushed at him in a tackle attack and fell on three komodo soldiers, knocking them unconscious.

"That's what I call the Squashed Pack."

"So, you got names for all your moves?"

"Bet I do. Once you're a Kung Fu master you oughta get a grip on being able to nae your abilities and cool moves."

"I'll have to come up with one myself, can't let you seem smarter than me."

"Heh, maybe you shouldn't."

"Crane, Mantis, now go and secure the Thieves' pathway through the lower levels, make the others guard them, we'll be attracting some bad guys here to let you clear the coast easier."

"Got it!" Crane shouted as he flew away to meet the rest of the masters and thieves and begin their own path clearances, leaving Po and Zhen to face the oncoming horde.

"After them!" shouted Klaus leading more of his fellow crime bosses, Barsuk, Scott, Fung and Jong Sung alongside his sister; Po and Zhen confidently stood together against the onslaught. 

"Alright, Zhen, you take the weasels, I take the big guys."

"Fine with me." replied Zhen before readying herself.

"Just a quick tip: make sure to never let them know what you'll do next."

"I know."

"Also, they're thieves like you, if anything has worked to stop you, it can stop them. Just stay calm, don't let any fear overcome you."

"Yeah, that makes sense, let's go!"

With that Po went against the crime bosses focused on him, easily dodging their moves and using his Kung Fu moves to incapacitate each one-by-one; first by grabbing Scott by the back and using his fire breath to scare Fung away from his position and then using Scott as a living projectile thrown at the other croc and knock them both unconscious; then came in Jong Sung and Barsuk, both growling as they tried to tag him through their brute strength, which Po just smirked at watching, he utilized a series of flips and grabs to keep them both on their toes before finishing the fight by grabbing Jong by the horns and having him ram Barsuk into a nearby wall, defeating both bosses he then turned to Zhen avoiding both weasels attacks such as their tackles, knife throws and punches; she then started taunting them to get them riled up.

"Hey, Veruca, how's it feel that you'll be back on a cell after this?"

"You miserable no-good lowly thief."

"Heh, says the prisoner weasel."

"Veruca don't fall for her words!"

"Klaus, you oughta get something other than earrings? They're so old fashioned."

Klaus' eye twitched before he rushed Zhen down alongside his sister.

"That does it!" 

"You're mincemeat, Zhenny!" added Veruca as both siblings fought Zhen at once with more ferocity each trying to take a deadlier strike at the fox thief.

At first Zhen felt some fear like she did back with her brawl with Granny Boar but upon glancing at Po and seeing him fight off his opposition, remembered his words prior and focused on dodging their combined strikes, hoping for an opening to counter attack, as she dodged their strikes before pulling out the chain that once was used to keep her prisoner from her robe and surprising both weasel siblings with it before she threw it at them, knocking them off balance, before trying a few of the Kung Fu strikes Po had used, as she imitated them, the weasels noticed and laughed as they ran around her and then grabbed her arms to restrain her, seemingly stopping her.

"End of the game, Zhen." taunted Klaus.

"Prepare to be minced meat, foxy." continue Veruca as she pulled out a knife and got ready to do her usual job, only for Zhen to get away by using her remaining body strength to fling both her attackers forward, leaving them on the ground, following by using her bottle of oil to keep them from getting up and finishing by picking the chain back up and using it to round them before making them slide away into the distance, causing them to disappear into the city's interior as they slid away while screaming, with Zhen smirking. Po tried to congratulate her but saw a snapping turtle guard try and sneak up on her.

"Zhen!" he cried out but before he even registered, Zhen had used a few kung fu moves similar to Po's, albeit a bit sloppier, to fend off the turtle and used a nerve pinch to leave him on the ground subdued, on top of incapable of getting up due to his own weight and fatigue as he fruitlessly waved his arms around to try and get up.

"Zhen, that was..."

"Awesome?" she asked proudly.

"Yes, it was." Po replied equally.

"I learned from the best."

"Thanks."

"Now, let's see how the rest are doing, son." started Mr. Ping who alongside Li came out of hiding behind a rock nearby, as they, Po and Zhen rushed forward.

"Wait, dads, it's too-" Po couldn't even finish before the two marched without any more fear.

"Dangerous?" asked Li.

"Ha, as if that will stop us." Ping said confidently.

"Danger is my second name!" boasted Li.

"You have one?" asked Ping confused.

"Uh, no, that was my boast."

"Oh."

Chapter 25: The Chameleon

Summary:

Po and Zhen get ready for the last confrontation

Notes:

I'm back after a month-long hiatus, damn you writer's block

At the middle of the path to the main entrance of the Chameleon's temple, a pair of komodo dragons conversed with one another.

"Hey buddy, you wanna play a game?"

"Yeah, what's it now?"

"When the Chameleon starts destroying cities, we take a shot of hard cider for every group of citizens that runs in fright."

"Oh neat, how about taking a shot per kill?"

"Aye, I can work with that."

"How about something else now?"

"Uh huh."

"Let's discuss the Dragon Warrior."

"Oh, you mean the one Zhen made a fool out of."

"Yeah, right, shame that Zhen messed up badly too."

"Yeah, true."

Then Zhen appeared in front of them.

"Hey, hey, guys, I feel offended you think I messed up. Wait, I did mess up, but I kinda don't want to be reminded."

"Missed up? Whaddya miss!?" asked one of the confused guards before the other snarled.

"She meant 'messed up. But we did miss ya, miss ya by a mile with our tracking. Now prepare to be captured or killed, whichever you like."

Zhen smirked right before both guards turned around behind them as Po and the Five were there. Before long, the two guards were tied up and beaten, now back to discussion.

"Uh, so if mom-err-the boss fails do we quit?"

"Maybe we should. Yeah, now let's talk about our failures like this one right now."

"Aww, man."

---

The other crime bosses and the Chameleon's forces were being swiftly taken care of by the Thieves of the Den's joined might with backup from the Kung Fu masters, albeit strong they were soon enough done for and those that weren't defeated fled the scene or hid away to avoid the humiliating fate of their fellows. Once the team was at the doors, Li and Ping were told to stay behind before Po and his allies entered the last stretch.

"Son, you sure you're not gonna need our help?" asked Ping first.

"Dads, we can handle ourselves; you stay here and make sure the thieves nab anyone trying to get us."

"But-" Li tried to add

"Nothing, we can't stay here for too long. The more time we take to get to the Chameleon, the stronger she'll get. Now stay behind while we handle it!"

"Just do as he says." remarked Viper nicely to the two.

"Don't worry about us." said Monkey. "Just make sure things don't get too ugly out here."

"Oh Li, what'll we do if they don't!?"

"They can handle it... But it wouldn't hurt to sneak in just in case they drop a weapon and need it in a pinch."

"That works, uh thief guys you're fine with us leaving for the inside?" asked Ping.

"Yeah, do your stuff, noodle bird." said Han as he sat atop a knocked out Komodo dragon soldier. "We're covering your shift here."

"Very well, you're all getting discounts on your next visits to my shop."

"That's fine with us." replied Han as Ping and Li left to get to Po and the others.

---

Just as Po and his friends made it through once more, they were ambushed by 7 warriors: 3 komodo dragons (Jin, Larry and Weimin), 2 monitor lizards (Cobra and Bie), and 2 snapping turtles (Zie and Mash). Po and his allies were more than ready for them.

"If it is the Chameleon that you seek to defeat, you'll go through us first!" declared Weimin, the first to speak up.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah; you guys are trying to stop us. Big news." Crane snarked.

"You can't win against all of us." Cobra replied.

"Never heard that one." joked Mantis.

"It's 7 against 6 and a joke of a former servant." said Zie while eyeing Zhen. "Ah, how I'll relish crushing you like the bug you are."

"Oh, thanks for caring, Zie." said Zhen without any fear of the snapping turtle warrior. "But we already beat so many of you, you're old news."

"We have the powers of the Kung Fu masters that the Chameleon trapped."

"Alright, that is new." Zhen exclaimed in response.

"Oh, this is like fighting the real deals. Great!" said Po excitedly before realizing how that sounded. "Err, that's bad, actually, real bad."

"So, what's the plan here?" asked Tai Lung, in a mildly snarky but ultimately sincerely curious tone.

"You guys take one each, Zhen and I take on one ourselves." Po responded.

"Hey, I don't need babysitting."

"These guys have a lot of skills so you kinda do need help."

"Well, whatever works."

"Get them!" shouted Weimin as he and his fellow soldiers attacked, Po and his friends split to take one on each as Po had planned. Po and Zhen took on Weimin, Tigress on Larry, Tai Lung on Zie, Viper on Cobra, Crane on Jin, Monkey on Mash and Mantis on Bie. Their battles were more or less even at first due to the stolen skills of the Kung Fu masters giving the Chameleon's forces an element of surprise, but fortunately the Five, Po and Tai Lung's knowledge of martial arts let them realize how to adapt to each foe and counter with appropriate technique and moves.

First, Crane was dodging the attacks of Jin who tried to bite at him, then using his claws to slash, utilizing the Kung Fu of Master Iguana from the Spirit Realm, Crane had read up on his techniques and their emphasis on impaling and slashing, so he knew better than to take his foe head-on without some form of defense, though he wasn't the best at it. 

"Be careful, birdie, I bite!" gloated the komodo dragon as Crane did his best to dodge his moves, soon Crane decided to keep on doing so, using his feet to try and measure up the threat before he finally found a good opening to strike back, as soon as Crane noticed Jin slipping up he knew his chance was up, after a clumsy swing he managed to accurately restrain Jin's arms and stop his attacks, the struggling komodo couldn't do much anymore as Crane spun him around, leaving him dizzy, before slamming him into the ground, defeating him. "Careful, lizard, I-Well-I kick?" Crane said, unable to come up with a proper response to Jin's earlier taunt.

Monkey and Mantis themselves took similarly on Mash and Bie each, Monkey used his staff to keep the snapping turtle from trying to get to close and hitting his exposed neck and limbs so he could do more damage than normal, while Mantis baited and dodged Bie's every move, with the monitor unable to keep up; however Mantis was suddenly grabbed and crushed by Bie when he got distracted.

"Hahaha, I have crushed this little-"

Only for Bie to realize he instead just crushed a wooden action figure shaped after Mantis, which had some green goop on it.

"Wait a minute, this ain't the bug."

"But I am!" boasted Mantis as Bie turned to his left side and was suddenly struck away.

Monkey finished his fight with Mash by using his jumping skills and agility to grapple Mash's head and guide him into a hole in a nearby wall where he got stuck. To make sure his foe didn't get out in any way, Monkey gave him an extra whack to stick him deeper.

"Oops, sorry about that, I'll get you out when we are ready to arrest you."

"Stay still, you." said Cobra frustratedly as he attempted to claw at Viper, who dodged his every move with ease, despite the strong blows he inherited from Master Bear, his abilities weren't good enough to tag his foe, who used her own dancing and fighting skills to go unharmed, she then wrapped her tail around one of his fists and started making him hit himself until he'd knocked himself out.

"We have the abilities of various masters across China, you cannot defeat us." boasted Larry as he wielded a mace just like Thundering Rhino's, Tigress dodged his blows albeit coming close to being hit due to still not being quite used to her impaired vision and Larry's own surprisingly skilled moves.

"I see you got Thundering Rhino's style, with a nearly impenetrable defense, but you forgot one thing." Tigress said to Larry as she blocked his moves.

"Huh?"

"He never did well against leg sweeps." 

With that Tigress swept the legs of her foe and knocked him out with a single punch.

"You should also have known, his style is fit for heavier fighters, not a walking skeleton."

Tai Lung fought against Zie, with the larger warrior using the abilities of Master Hippo to have his weight and size block Tai Lung's move, not even his nerve strike worked, albeit in part due to it being weaker than usual.

"What's the matter, little leopard? Can't get past my defenses?"

"You're right, you have Master Hippo's style, a formidable one."

"Thanks a lot, but your praise isn't going to save you."

Zie grabbed him by the neck when Tai Lung seemingly tired out and grinned malevolently preparing to lethally bite him until Tai Lung just calmly talked without changing his tone.

"But one thing."

"What now?!"

Without any words, Tai Lung took a chance to pinch Zie's neck at a precise never point, leaving him mildly paralyzed and open for Tai Lung to defeat as he used a couple of swift moves to bunch him in his softer parts and weakspots in his limbs, then lift him up and throw him over to the pile of other defeated warriors. Tigress complimented him for it.

"Not bad. Shifu taught you well."

"So, he did to you. And him." Tai Lung said pointing to Po and Zhen easily defeating Weimin with their combined Kung Fu and dirty fighting, leading to them stuffing Weimin into a barrel, beaten up and defeated.

"Wahoo. I can say I beat Master Porcupine in battle... Maybe... Does this count?" Po asked Zhen who shrugged.

"On a technicality maybe." Crane said before backhanding with his wing a barely conscious Jin who attempted to sneak up on him.

"Well, we took care of the squadron, let's move forward to the Chameleon." Mantis said excitedly.

Po and his allies came forward to finish what they had come here for, though they knew this fight would be tough they were more confident than ever to take it on. The Chameleon herself awaited them, now ready to finish her own jobs herself. Once things had cleared and the Masters confronted her once more, they were ready to finish it. The Chameleon glared at them, but especially Zhen, who this time picked up enough bravery to shoot back a glare at her. Li and Ping were not too far behind themselves, ready to see what they could help out in.

Notes:

Hooo boy, this got delayed further than I had wanted or expected to, but it's back and I promise next update won't take as long to come out.

Will not reveal all of the stolen Master's abilities until later.

Chapter 26: The Student Confronts the Teacher

Summary:

Zhen and the Chameleon finally face off, as things reach their ending, Zhen must confront her old mentor and some old wounds are reopened.

Notes:

Sorry for the delay again, writer's block is pain

The Chameleon stared at Po and the others, wielding the Staff of Wisdom still. She admired her reflection a bit before specifically glaring at Po when called out.

"Hey, Chameleon Lady, I am here for my staff! And to free your prisoners, and stop your evil deeds!"

"Well, well, well if it isn't the little panda and his friends back for more? I thought you'd be smarter than this, to come to your own deaths willingly is so dumb, I can't even fathom how to reach that endgoal."

"We're not here to play, we're here to end it." Tai Lung boasted.

"And how will you do that, wretch? I have the Kung Fu of all past masters and every other in China... Except for you seven."

"Next time tell us something we don't know." joked Po.

She then showcased the Staff of Wisdom, which looked corrupted worse than before.

"How about that? Your little Staff is now mine, and it has a shiny new look."

"Hey that's not right!"

"Nothing is right about me, dear."

"Well, Ms. Tainting Lady, I will take back my Staff and-"

"Beat me over with it?"

"Mayhaps?"

"I'll let you take it from my dead body."

"Alright, that's a big deal maybe we shouldn't go that far, you know."

"I am willing to." said Tai Lung.

"I guess Tigres too." joke Crane.

The Chameleon didn't like the sudden tone of the warriors, seeing them diminish her impactful threats like that.

"Are you not afraid, warriors? Of my incredible might?"

"We've beaten wannabe conquerors like you before." Tigress claimed. "You're nothing new."

"Yeah, we'll never be afraid of you!" Viper added.

"None of us are!" continued Crane.

"Are you sure, one of you is still unsure." 

She then looked at the group and spotted Zhen, she changed between a glare and a expression of mockery at her former daughter's defiance.

"There you are. So, you are challenging me after all, Zhen?" asked the Chameleon in a deadpan yet subtly furious tone. "After all these years?"

"I've let you control me for too long." replied Zhen a bit fearful still.

"Oh, look who's all grown up. Now you think you can choose where to go." 

"Don't let her words get to you, Zhen. She'll say whatever she can to throw you off your game" said Po, hoping Zhen wouldn't be too struck by them and possibly lose her concentration or be left wide open as a result.

"I'm not planning to."

"You were at the top, almost close to perfection. Oh well, it's a shame our partnership ends like this. You know, I was almost actually proud of you by now."

Then, she attacked without further warning, going after Zhen by shifting into Tai Lung's form and roaring, Zhen dodged out of the way with ease and ducked to avoid a few knives thrown at her when the Chameleon changed into Lord Shen. At this point the Five jumped in, each deflecting the blades thrown her way, with Po grappling against their foe, despite the Chameleon's increased power, the Five were more than prepared to counter her attacks this time, preventing their foe from being able to strike them with either her attacks or Kung Fu-draining magic. However, despite their combined efforts, keeping her at bay was harder said than done and they felt the battle would eventually turn in her favor if they couldn't find a way to beat her quickly.

"What's the matter, 'Masters'? Am I too much for you?" taunted the Chameleon as she changed into the forms of Masters Ox, Eagle and Thundering Rhino in quick succession.

"Okay, you're trickier than usual I give you that." said Po as he and the Five worked around the Chameleon's techniques.

The Chameleon then changed into Shen and used the fan-like tail feathers of her transformation to catch Po off-guard and try to strike with a blade, but it was stopped by Monkey's staff.

"That's my trick, thief!" complained Shen from across his cell.

The Chameleon then changed into Kai and ran on all fours against Po but was sidestepped by Viper striking at her mid-charge.

"Gee, original." snarked Kai from his own cell at seeing the sorcerer use his moves.

The Five were able to dodge a wide attack from the sorceress who had used the form of a komodo dragon to do a tail swipe. Realizing they needed to find a way around her increased abilities the team hid behind some rubble to do some quick planning.

"Alright, team, we gotta split her attention, my Staff's powering her up too much for us to handle!" declared Po.

"We can tell!" said Crane mildly annoyed as he took cover.

"So how do we do that, exactly?" asked Viper confused.

"Look, I think we could catch her off-guard by pulling out tricks we're not used to. Fight differently. Maybe."

"You should fight dirty!" suggested Zhen.

"Huh?" asked the others.

"She won't expect 'honorable' Kung Fu masters to suddenly act like thieves, the Chameleon loves to see things and people act the way she wants, let's not give her that for once."

"Hmm, not bad of an idea." remarked Tai Lung. "Then, what comes, Panda?"

"Alright guys, here's how we'll do it, listen to me closely."

With that the group got close as he whispered quick as possible to ensure they could return to the fight quickly as the Chameleon got tired of attacking from afar and got closer to them. Each grabbed pieces like rubble and objects around to use in their upcoming attack.  A few thrown stones made the Chameleon lose her guard.

"What?"

A few more thrown near her also made her back away.

"What are you trying to do?"

She then tried to use her draining ability at what she thought was one of the masters only to strike a wooden plank and quickly retract as a surprise strike from Monkey struck her sending her back again, then Viper utilized a bunch of pebbles to pelt her with and grabbed her left arm with her body to keep her down, Crane followed by pining her right arm but both were repelled instantly; Po and Tigress tried the same but ended up repelled too, barely blocking her attempts to steal their Kung Fu, all while failing to seize the Staff. Zhen looked on worried as nothing seemed to work, until she recalled what the Chameleon disliked that she'd learned.

"Po, this plan isn't working, I have an idea!"

"Wait, Zhen, don't do this alone, it's dangerous."

"No worries, I got this covered." she replied before facing the Chameleon head-on alone to distract her from the fight.

"Hey, Chameleon, how about you follow me?!"

The Chameleon glared at her as she changed into a monkey and gave chase to her former pupil.

"You shall be a fun distraction from this nonsense."

With that the Chameleon took her attention away from the masters in order to hunt down Zhen.

"You ungrateful brat, when I have you at my mercy you will regret ever walking back on me."

Zhen responded nothing as she lured her away. With that, a worried Po pondered on what to do.

"We gotta help her out, she'll get killed!"

"Po, we must take the chance and steal the Staff while her attention is diverted." Tigress shouted.

"Alright, but I'll keep an eye on Zhen, you guys seize it together."

"On it!" the rest said

The Chameleon lunged at her former protégé, growling with every move she used as she changed into various forms to attack her.

"You ungrateful wretch."

She first changed into Tai Lung trying to claw at her. Zhen dodged rather quickly albeit nearly slashed by her claws. 

"I raised you since you were young, I fed you, gave you a purpose, taught all you know, gave you a home, cared for you, made you someone worthy of living." 

She then switched to Lord Shen and tried to use her fan tail and claws to attack along with a few knives, which Zhen barely had time to reflect before she tripped on the ground.

"And this!"

She changed into Kai and tried to crush her, only for Zhen to roll on the ground.

"Is!" 

With more fury she changed into Shifu and tried to punch her downwards, with Zhen still barely dodging her attacks.

"The thanks!"

Grabbing a nearby large rock, Zhen protected herself from the assault of her master who changed into a Komodo dragon and tried to bite her.

"I!"

She then changed into Zhen herself, and grabbed the piece of rock and threw it aside before grabbing Zhen by the neck.

"GET?!"

Shen then changed back to her normal form and tossed Zhen aside, growling. Zhen remained defiant at the Chameleon's threat, opting to verbally defy her once more.

"You may have done that-"

Zhen struggled in the Chameleon's grasp but refused to yield or show fear to her. 

"But you did not do it for my own good. You just wanted to use me."

The Chameleon laughed sadistically, not noticing Po and the others coming in from behind.

"Oh, poor pathetic stupid Zhen, you think I care you just realized something so obvious."

She then grabbed Zhen by the neck with her tail and began squeezing it.

"Rule number two of the streets: No one cares about your feelings. Especially if you're a failure."

Zhen tried to articulate more but began to gasp and try to breath for air as the Chameleon tightened her grip.

"What's that? Come on, dear, speak loudly, I can't hear you begging for mercy." The Chameleon taunted Zhen as she continued.

"You won't make me!" Zhen said defiantly before the Chameleon just chuckled. "Then, I guess it's time to end our relationship for good, a shame it had to be like this."

Then as soon as she prepared to definitely kill Zhen, The Chameleon was struck multiple times by the Five and Po, starting with Po striking her in the back and grabbing the injured Zhen, followed by Monkey doing a full body slam, Viper following with quick tail strikes, Mantis striking her face, Crane using his Wings of Justice to throw her concentration off, Tigress then utilized a chi-charged punch to finally make the sorceress lose balance and drop the Staff of Wisdom before Tai Lung knocked her aside with a swipe, allowing the Five to retrieve it and toss it to Po.

"Po, catch." yelled Tigress, with Po doing so.

"Yes!"

In his excitement, Po looked at Zhen and was worried but she quickly reassured him.

"Zhen!"

"Hey.. *cough* Panda, I'm fine, now let's just fix this mess for good."

"Oh, thank goodness, right right. Wait where's the Chameleon?"

Suddenly Po and the others noticed the Chameleon was gone from where she was thrown towards but before the Five could make notice of it, she snuck up on them and succeeded at draining them of Kung Fu. Po, Zhen and Tai Lung had no time to react or help their friends before they lost the ability to fight.

"No!" all three shouted.

The Chameleon then stood up, admiring her newly-gained power before her anger came back in full force.

"You miserable rats!" 

"Surrender now, Chameleon, you may have the strength of the Five, but I got my Staff back!"

"And he's the Dragon Warrior; he will beat you." claimed Zhen.

"Ohoho, then I guess I have to even the odds." she calmly said before changing slowly into Po's form, albeit a more reptilian-looking one that was slightly bigger than the real deal.

"Oh, crap." said Zhen looking at the Chameleon's new form.

"I don't need your stupid staff or title, Panda, I will rip you in half myself. Skadoosh!"

Po didn't take well to her stealing his phrase. "Oh, come on, she steals my appearance and now, ah!"

He had to dodge the Chameleon!Po lunging at him, and soon was forced into a defensive role to avoid getting drained.

"Alright, your plan was solid, I'll give you that."

Zhen and Tai Lung were forced back when they tried to help and decided to help the defeated Five be placed somewhere safe.

"Are you guys alright?" asked Zhen.

"Yeah, just weaker." Mantis said barely getting up.

"We have to help Po!" shouted Tigress trying to go help, but Tai Lung stopped her.

"No, in your state you're helpless against the Chameleon. I will do so."

"Huh?" asked the rest.

"If I can prove a big nuisance enough, Po might find an opening to beat her."

"But if he drains your Kung Fu-" Crane started, fearing she'd finish her earlier job. 

"I'd like to see her try." Tai Lung said defiantly before roaring and jumping to help Po. "Do something with yourselves and free the prisoners."

"Huh, why?" asked Zhen.

"I have an idea, but that Panda has got to know it first before anything." Tai Lung replied quickly.

Once the shock passed, they all decided to get going. With Li and Ping coming in just as everything escalated.

"Po!"

"Son!"

"We're here to help." both shouted but then were interrupted seeing Po fighting the Chameleon with a lot of difficulty in keeping up.

"Oh no, they're fighting already."

"But what can we do against... Another Po?"

"He's at least got the Staff." said Ping.

---

As Po and the Chameleon fought, Shen and Kai watched the fight, cheering on one of the fighters.

"Come on, Panda, get em'." Kai said excitedly.

"Which one?" asked Shen.

"The one that's less annoying." replied the yak general.

"Do you have any idea of how little that narrows it down." Shen said angrily, causing a nearby Soothsayer to chuckle.

"Yeah." said Kai.

Just then the Five and Zhen went over to free Shifu, but Zhen had an idea watching Po and the Chameleon fought with Tai Lung rushing to help.

"You five free the others, I have to free 2 bad guys if Po is to win."

"Wait, you mean?" asked Viper.

"Yes, the peacock and the bull, they were Po's greatest enemies, and the Chameleon may know some of their moves, but she can't know all of them."

"But they were drained." replied Crane.

"If nothing they'll be a good distraction, go!"

With that she rushed over to free the two, with Po's fathers also rushing to see the Five and catch up to speed, as Po fought with his Staff he attempted to use his Chi abilities with it only for the corrupted weapon to fail to work.

"Come on! Come on! Staff work!" 

Po was worried things would go wrong, and kept on begging for the weapon to be back to normal soon enough.

Notes:

And we're near the ending now, next time the villains and Po will team up for one great joint battle

Chapter 27: The Breakout of the Infamous

Summary:

Zhen frees some fiends to take on the Chameleon, while Po tries and find a way to stop the sorceress.

Now she was really going to do it, Zhen thought to herself as she rushed to free three specific prisoners to take on the Chameleon. She was a bit unsure of her idea, despite seeing the logic behind it, mainly because even if they did beat the Chameleon or helped Po do so, there's no telling what they would do afterwards, the possibility of them trying to backstab Po and later take all of the others out was certain... But she also figured out that it couldn't be worse than fighting off the Chameleon right now.

"Well, just remember, free those guys, let them loose and Po should handle it."

Meanwhile Po kept on fending off the Chameleon's attacks, using his Staff to block her continuous tongue move and avoid being drained like the rest.

"You know nothing but using the same move over and over?"

"As long as it works!"

"Well, that's just clever." Po responded sarcastically as he kept on blocking attacks.

The Chameleon's assault went on as Zhen prepared to pick apart the cages' locks alongside the Five. Viper was the first to help the captured masters be freed though she looked worryingly at Po's fight with the Chameleon.

"Hurry up, everyone, I don't know how long Po can hold her off." Viper said in concern.

"We're hurrying, alright?!" complained Crane as he opened a few cages, letting out Masters Chao, Rooster and Ox from their cages quick as he could. Most of the masters were moved to safe parts to keep them from being caught up in the fight. After the majority had moved away, Ping and Li finally approached where the Five were helping the captured masters escape and were ready to help the Five themselves.

"We're here!"

"To help out!"

Zhen took time to acknowledge their presence before the Five did, knowing they were busy.

"Bigger panda? Goose guy? What are you up to here?"

"Didn't we just say why?" asked Ping snarkily.

"To help! Again." added Li.

"You were supposed to stay outside!" Zhen reclaimed.

"Well, you're not the boss of us and neither is Po!" Ping claimed.

"But- It's pointless, you two couldn't possibly make a difference.

"Maybe we cannot in a fight, but in spirit our son will always be glad to have us by his side." Li added.

They all then watched as Po ran from the Chameleon, who was shapeshifted into a crocodile lizard and tried to bite at Po.

"Morale's not gonna help now. I have a plan, and I'll need your help with it."

"Got it!" both dads exclaimed at once.

The masters were almost fully freed, now only Shifu and the villainous duo of Po's greatest foes were left. Tai Lung went to save Shifu himself. While Li and Ping accompanied Zhen to free Kai first and then Shen, albeit questions soon arose from Li's side.

"Look, we gotta unleash these guys to help Po; they're General Kai and Lord Shen."

"Wait, you said-" started Li.

"Yes, I know this might seem crazy given that Kai attacked your village and tried to kill Po." Zhen said, not understanding yet who made Li uncomfortable.

"Oh, it's not the horned guy he's concerned about, Zhen." said Ping in a low tone.

"Huh, then who?"

Ping then sighed before he talked rather lowly. 

"It's Lord Shen, he... hurt Li in many ways before and... Well, he could explain it better."

 "He destroyed my village, killed the people I loved, my friends, my family, and he separated me from Po."

Shen heard them and though he didn't want to emote much, he couldn't help but feel guilty at Li's words as he struggled to do full sentences. The Soothsayer looked at Li and then Shen with both sympathy for the former and pity for the latter.

"Look, I... won't say something that could upset you but, we need his help. I would ask the Five to get involved but they shouldn't be meat shields for Po, I don't want them hurt."

"..." Li didn't answer initially.

"Alright, if you don't want to then we can choose another, Li-." said Ping meekly.

"Maybe. We should keep him in that cage, he does not deserve any freedom."

"That'll be fine with me." Shen interfered. "Pardon, if I interrupted you two."

"Huh, what'd you say?" asked Zhen.

"Didn't you hear me you two deaf creatures? I am content with being here, sigh, I am done with trying anything."

The Soothsayer showed up out of almost nowhere and was ready to observe what'll unfold.

"Well, you heard him, Li. He wants to stay put so let's allow him to."

"Or perhaps we shouldn't." said Zhen.

Everyone else was confused until she continued speaking.

"Look, I don't know the whole story of what the bird did to you, nor I want to inject myself in things that aren't my business but... Maybe. We should let him help us."

Shen glared at the group but slowly shifted to a slightly guilty expression.

"I understand but I doubt I could ever forgive him for what he's done." said Li angrily.

"But you don't have to." said the Soothsayer, adding in her own words for once.

"Huh?" a confused Li responded.

"Shen desires atonement, even if he won't admit it."

"But-"

"That does not mean you have to forgive him." Zhen said thinking quickly what the Soothsayer herself planned on saying, causing the latter to smirk.

"And besides, what matters most Li. Our son? Or our past?" Ping continued. "Lord Shen and Kai, might be the only ones who can help him now. The Five are not in the best shape and they need to help the other masters escape"

Li looked solemnly and sighed not having anything to say.

"Besides, even if we don't free him, someone else will." Ping added trying to help Li accept what they had to do. "But you don't have to watch any of it if you wish to."

Li looked at Shen and at Zhen, Ping and the Soothsayer still thinking on whether or not to accept it. Shen and Kai both looked at each other and then the group, confused on what'll happen next.

---

Po kept on fending off the Chameleon, despite her overwhelming defense and rapid changing into his past foes confusing him. Just as he'd been briefly exhausted the Chameleon took the chance to attack him with full force disguised as him once more, using her tail as a large whip to hold down Po while tied up.

"Looks like it ends here, Panda, and you still can't get that dumb staff of yours back to shape. I guess everyone messed up choosing you, letting you put shame on the title of Dragon Warrior, and ruining everything for everyone else. Consider what I'll do a sign of my mercy, wretch!"

"No matter your words, Chamelion, I won't ever let you or anyone else's words get to me again. I know what I am, was and will be."

"I can answer that, instead." she tightened her grip and kept Po from talking further, leaving him mumbling instead as he struggled to try and break free. "Come on dearie, speak up? Or is your mouth too full?"

As Po continued to fruitlessly struggle, the Chameleon prepared a blade to stab him in the neck. 

"So long, former Dragon Warrior, I guess your successor will have the honor of taking that title by force before I take over the rest of this world."

But she was interrupted by getting tackled by Kai, Shen and Tai Lung at the same time sending her flying into a wall and growling in response.

"Looks like you could use a hand, Po... Or four."

"Huh?" was all Po mustered before looking at who stopped him from dying.

The three villains then stood in front of Po as he recovered his breath and coughed before awing at the sight of the three past foes he fought now standing as his newfound allies.

"Oh. My. Gosh! I can't believe it, us three." 

"Yes, yes, yes, Panda. Get over it!" claimed Kai.

"We have one shot at this, don't blow it more than you've already done." angrily exclaimed Shen.

"Alright, got it." Po exclaimed. He then felt someone on his shoulder.

It was Zhen

"I'm with you, too, Po."

"Zhen!"

The Chameleon recovered and growled at her foes.

"You fools, no matter who is it that fights me. I am everything and everyone." she rapidly changed forms into all the masters whose Kung Fu she'd took. "You've ever fought or seen!" she finished with a roar as she began to change into a monstruos chimeric dragon-like form.

Po and his group just smirked and got ready to fight.

"Don't worry guys, I'll figure out how to beat her."

Notes:

Real sorry I took so long, but here it is. And now we're headed for the climax and finale. Tai Lung + Shifu + Tigress interaction coming next chapter.

Chapter 28: The Definitive Showdown

Summary:

With her true power shown, the Chameleon fights Po and his new allies, now the Dragon Warrior and his newfound allies must stop her or risk a new age of darkness upon the world.

"Whoa, did not see that coming. Did you guys?" said Po as the Chameleon shifted forms into her new larger draconic one

"Not at all!" complained Shen as the Chameleon grew into her newest form.

"Uh, she could do that the whole time?" asked Kai a bit afraid.

"It seems." said Tai Lung in response, bracing himself.

"Okay, so what's the plan here, Po?" asked Zhen

"I need to make sure to get my Staff back to normal, so can I restore you guys' techniques. Until then I'm gonna need you to keep the Chameleon distracted."

"The Great Kai, used as bait?! You're insane!"

"Hey, hornface, it's that or being killed. Pick your poison or I guess pick living or dying to stubbornness!" Shen reclaimed, recognizing their pride came last in this situation.

Their small argument was broken when the Chameleon lunged at them. The three past foes and Zhen understood what they had to do and rushed to keep their foe distracted any way they could, they may not have their fighting skills and their strength only at a mere fraction of what it once was but their instincts should suffice to at least buy enough time for Po. Kai and Shen couldn't believe they were really doing this.

"Grah, get off me!" shouted the draconic Chameleon as Shen tried to do his best to claw at her head to do some damage. The Chameleon tried to shake him off only for Kai to jump into her eyes and try to hold on to distract her. Zhen ran across the Chameleon's back, using her tools to distract her by throwing it at her eyes once she ran to the front, as for Tai Lung he did his best to physically hold her back while Po worked out his own plan.

"Come on, staff, work!"

At first Po was having a hard time trying to focus on getting the staff back to normal, it had been imbued with the Chameleon's magic and her negative thoughts and emotions ran wild through it; Po couldn't help but sympathize a bit, he knew rejection well enough and lamented she'd been through it, even if he condoned none of her actions taken in response. However, he had to clear his mind of it all to get to work and undo the damage she was causing, as well as defeating her. So, he took a deep breath, and once more focused on inner peace, unlike last time he had no burdens so once he properly focused it was a quick and done process, now he was sure of what to do after this was all over, and he'd start now showing his wisdom. With a golden glow, the Chi Staff was purified of its evil influence and Po triumphantly wielded it to indicate he was back in action and that he was ready to lay the hurt on the Chameleon.

"Get off me!" the villainous dragon shouted as she shook off all four attackers sending most of them flying away, except for Zhen who was thrown up, the dragon turned to the fox and growled glaring at her. "You made your choice."

As she lunged with her mouth wide open at the falling Zhen, the latter braced for the worse, but Po immediately came to the rescue his staff raised as he sped against his foe.

"Skadoosh!" 

And a strong punch knocked the dragon off balance and dropped her on the ground. She rose up and growled in both anger and anticipation at stealing Po's new abilities, she prepared her tongue attack again, but Po smirked as he saw it coming and readied his staff before using it to expertly deflect the strike and pin the tongue to the ground before casting a Chi spell and using it to disperse some golden energy out of the Chameleon's body. She felt some of her power leaving her but recovered before more than a few amounts could be lost and got back up.

"That cheap trick of yours won't help you, Panda."

"Oh, I know but they will." he said confidently as Kai, Shen and Tai Lung had their full strength back.

"It's good to be back." said Kai readying his Chi blades.

"Let's get it over with, then!" Shen finished as he rushed with his attacks at the Chameleon using his throwing knives to make her back off from her attacks.

"Everyone, listen to me I got a 5-step plan to defeat her."

"I'm listening." said Tai Lung without doubt.

"Well, what is it?" Shen asked impatiently.

"If I can whack her good with the Chi Staff again, I could beat her for good, this time using the new technique I've developed but I'm gonna need you guys' help in beating her back."

"Hmph, then let's do it, Panda." growled Kai, who was impatient to do battle again.

"Alright, go!" Po ordered as the Chameleon growled still in her dragon form.

Soon the battle resumed, using his Jade Blades, Kai tied up the Chameleon's mouth and kept it shut, avoiding her absorption ability and making her safer to handle, then Shen threw knives at her wings, putting holes into the membranes and causing her to fall while groaning in pain, then Tai Lung grabbed her tail on the ground and used his strength to slam her against a wall, causing various cages to fall and pin her. In a fit of rage, the Chameleon immediately recovered and threw everyone else off, even breaking Kai's chains and incapacitating him and Shen temporarily by using the nerve strike on them as a finisher then sending Tai Lung into the cages, pining his arms under them to prevent him from escaping and rejoining the fray. Zhen avoided being thrown off and prepared a smoke pack to throw on her eyes. Unfortunatel, the Chameleon barely avoided it getting into her eyes before preparing a counterattack to destroy her former pupil, Zhen nearly froze up in terror when thinking she was done for until she saw Po arrive and prepare to truly fight his foe, this time he was ready for her and to use his Staff to fend her attacks off, the two exchanged words one last time.

"Not so fast!"

"So, you got that thing back? No matter, I shall pulverize you with my bare hands."

"Look, Lady Chameleon, this is your last chance to surrender peacefully. I know what you've gone through, being rejected by people you admire, being told you're no good. But this isn't the way to go about righting that wrong."

"Silence! This world has nothing left for me to earn, so I shall take it by force. One by one." she growled, refusing to listen to Po's words.

"Looks like violence's the only way out then."

The two fought very closely, both giving it their all, Po transformed into his Chi Master form with his golden draconic projection to rival the Chameleon's form and the two duked it out in the skies, the injured Kai and Shen could only look in amazement as they were too injured and stunned to help. In the air of the blood moon's night everyone even those out of the fight like the still-tied Klaus and Veruca, the defeated minions of the Chameleon, Li, Ping, The Five, the captured masters and the citizens of Juniper could see the spectacle of the dragons' fight, both great warriors fought intensely, clawing, kicking and using chi blasts against the other, a fiercer fight than Kai had given the Dragon Warrior before; eventually Po and the Chameleon grabbed each other and crashed through the roof. Now reaching a great stalemate, Po used his Chi attacks to send the dragon back various feet, while the Chameleon attempted to use various assorted Kung Fu techniques and powers to get at Po, fortunately her lack of actual practice and creativity kept her from using them all at their most efficient. After Po managed to deflect most of her attacks, both launched one extremely charged Chi-based breath blast at each other, sending themselves flying back and causing Po to lose his Staff, which rolled near Zhen. Po and the Chameleon were both exhausted and took their time to recover, though in the process of being knocked back Po was trapped underneath various cages, leaving him unable to get out quickly and get back the Staff to confront the Chameleon and finish the fight. This gave him an idea.

"Hey, Zhen! Grab that staff now!"

Zhen rushed at it and grabbed it, but became uneasy with it.

"B-But, I don't know how to use it."

"Do not worry, I may not have taught you much yet, but you're a quick learner, you can pull the awesome dragon move off!"

Zhen turned to the Chameleon who rose up back in her normal form and shapeshifted again into her evil version of Po's form.

"Heh, a wannabe master against the greatest? Fitting day for a punishment for the brat!"

With that she rushed at Zhen and prepared to kill her, but the latter closed her eyes and focused, at first the Chameleon's years of abuse and lessons flooded her mind but upon remembering who was standing with her in this moment she began remembering her friendship with Po, Po's lessons, her budding friendship with the Five and Tai Lung and finally how Po used the Chi Staff, she then decided to apply her own way of it as she spun it around and almost instinctively cast a Chi spell with it, the Chameleon rushed faster and lunged at Zhen only to receive a powerful Chi blast to the face.

"Ska-BLAM!"

With a swift move a golden dragon appeared from the staff and hit its foe with all its great power, even causing a gigantic golden glow that lighted up the arena, with the unmatched power of this awesome move the Chameleon was blasted back, almost spitting out a ton of Chi in the process and got sent rolling and left knocked out on the floor in her default form. Zhen stopped for a minute and admired what she'd just done before cheering.

"I-I did it! I can't believe I just did it! Po, I did it!"

"Good job, Zhen. Alright, time to get these things off."

With some minor effort, Po removed the cages off himself. Zhen raised an eyebrow.

"Hold on, you could've escaped all this time on your own?" asked an incredulous Zhen.

"Why, yes?"

"But why didn't you finish her off yourself?"

"Zhen, this was not my battle to finish. It was yours. I see a destiny for you beyond this mission."

As they talked they didn't notice the Chameleon scurrying away and sneaking up on them, crawling on all fours slowly before picking up her pace and finishing with a straight lunge at Po's back, the latter barely had time to turn around and try to register the threat with Zhen, Ping, Li, Shen and Kai all also caught off guard as the dark mage readied her finishing move... All before being finally and truly beaten when a nerve move struck her in the back and she dropped paralyzed, with her tongue out for extra humiliation; to everyone's shock it was Tai Lung who dealt the blow.

"That wasn't too bad, Zhen." said Tai Lung respectfully to the fox thief.

"And I guess it's also his battle to finish." Po said to Zhen before turning to Tai Lung.  "Hey, thanks."

"Hmph, looks like Oogway didn't make a mistake with you after all, soon-to-be former Dragon Warrior." Tai Lung said, holding his once hated foe in high steem, finally respecting him as the Dragon Warrior.

"I guess he didn't." Po smiled at his former foe's respect, and not just that but one of his idols who'd fallen from grace returning to the high pedestal he once held him in. "Thanks again, Tai Lung."

"And I hope you choose just as wisely as he did." Tai Lung smiled at Po.

"Hey guys, so how about we restore everyone's power? They must miss it a lot by now." said Zhen turning to the returning good and evil masters (and the Soothsayer) who cheered on the defeat of the Chameleon. 

"Don't mind if I do."

"Wait, but if those are evil masters as well then-"

"I believe their Kung Fu is theirs to have, Zhen. I do hope they don't make a ruckus but let's allow them to have it, we have to be better than people like the Chameleon."

"Alright, then. Let's do it."

Po smirked and cast a spell with the Staff and used it to restore the Kung Fu of every master, both villains and heroes alike. Everyone felt reinvigorated as their strength returned and they were once more in their best shape. With that, Ping and Li immediately approached Po and Zhen in relief, hugging them and even including Tai Lung in it, who awkwardly played it off; soon every master friend of Po rushed to him to celebrate, while the defeated Chameleon was picked up by Tai Lung, the latter eventually noticing Shifu coming too and preparing for the inevitable final talk.

Notes:

Alright, next chapter's the goodbyes and closure of the cast at Juniper. Last one will have the beginning of a new Dragon Warrior's tale.