Chapter 1

It was a long ride home for Po and his new family. He had never been on a boat before and the endless rocking back and forth was making his stomach uneasy for the first time in his life. Not even his Inner Peace was enough to sooth the sloshing going on in there.

A sudden upsurge in the water causing the boat to jump had done Po in. Falling from his bed he could feel what remained of his dinner, lunch and breakfast from well over two days ago starting to flow back. Not wishing to disturb Tigress, who to his complete envy was sound asleep in the bed next to him, Po made a beeline mad dash to the upper deck, stood before the side and quickly leaned over just in the nick of time.

"Carrots?" Po said as he fought to keep another bout from forming. "Why on earth would it taste like carrots? I haven't even eaten carrots."

"Tis the salt air panda."

Po looked over his shoulder to see Captain Rat Reed just a ways away. They had only met briefly, but he looked like a friendly enough person, and if he was willing to risk his ship and crew—even to save a bit of coin—Po figured he could be trusted.

"Here." Rat Reed said handing Po a small cup.

"What is—" Po began though the moment the scent reached his nose, he was overcome with such a foul disgusting odor, that he quickly leaned over the railing once more.

Rat Reed chuckled at the common sight. "Trust me panda, yea don't won't to know. Only that it will settle yea stomach."

How, by dissolving it? With narrow eyes and trembling hands Po brought the cup up to his lips and fought through the god awful smell to take a deep swing. The moment he finished it off, he felt much better, and even began to smile.

"Yea see, I told ya," Rat Reed said as he took a hearty gulp from his own. "After a while yea can hardly taste the crushed fish eyes."

Fish eyes!? Po's stomach began to turn for the worst once more, though he fought to keep it under control, as he turned to the sea rat saying, "Look I would like to thank you for what you did. It really meant—"

"Now look it here Dragon Warrior." Rat Reed snapped, cutting him off, "I did not risk the safety of me men or me ship for some noble gesture."

Po's eyes began to narrow again, the signs of anger began taking shape along his face. "Why then?"

Rat Reed leaned back against the steps, gazing into his cup. The mangy creature carried an expression as though he were glancing off to the far off distance. "For the money of course, the thrill of adventure..." he paused to take a long gulp before carrying on in a solemn tone, "...and because your cause was just."

"Uh?"

"Shifu told us what that raving half crazed peacock planned to do with those weapons, and if he succeeded, there would have not been a single safe harbor in all the lands."

Po turned away from the rat, a sorrow expression forming. "But I had no intension of killing Shen. I gave him a way out."

"And he chose the path of suffering!" Rat Reed snapped, "Now yea look here me boy, I know it is hard to understand, but there are some paths that cannot be changed no matter how hard yea try. The gods picked yea to be the Dragon Warrior just as they foretold Shen would die by a panda. In the end, our best bet is to simply flow with the current and see where it leads."

Po found himself smiling. "And what of you Rat Reed? What do you see in your future?"

"Me?" Rat Reed mumble while looking into back into his mug, "I see more far off adventure across the open waters, mounds of gold, and jewels, and a pretty young lass to bear me six…" he paused, snapping his head to gaze into the panda's jade eyes while jerking up a hand, "No, make that eight children to carry on in my footsteps."

Po chuckled as he brought his mug up in a toast, "Then here's to fate."

"And to adventure and treasure," Rat Reed added, "may neither of their guiding light darken upon us."

They were about to drink when a voice cried out from above. "Captain Reed, the harbor is in sight."

"Good, good," Rat Reed called out, standing up, tossing the cup over the side, "Shore up the sails and get the planks in the water, make sure we have a guide poll at the ready. We don't want to cut across one of them razor sharp coral." he paused to turn back to Po and said, "Sorry there panda, but we'll have to finish this another time."

"Why?" Po asked standing up, "What's the matter?"

"Before we left Gongmen City, that there Grandmaster Thundering Rhino asked if we would drop off some supplies of food and medical herbs to Coral Village." a solemn pause came over the caption as he leaned closer to Po, "That won't be a problem for you, will it panda?"

"No of course not," Po said quickly, "it'll be good to help the villagers rebuild their home…" he paused release a loud unsettling burp, "plus it'll be good for me to get back on dry land."

Sea Side Coral Village

The Sea Cutter made port several minutes later and Po was the first to jump ship, falling upon the ground, kissing the cold solid earth.

"I never want to travel by boat again," he said in a pleasing voice as he felt the gravity take holf of him.

Tigress was next to come down the walk way and smiled at the sight of her mate behaving in such a childish manner. It never ceased to amaze her how brave and deadly Po could act in the heat of battle, but take all that away and your left with a sweet laughable guy who merely wished to enjoy life to its fullest.

Wait, did I just refer to Po as my mate?

Though they have made no official announcement, or even told the others what happen in the remains of the Panda Village before the fight in Shen's factory, the very idea of them being mates came so easily to her, that she began to giggle.

"What's so funny Tigress?"

Tigress looked over her shoulder to face Crane, her cheeks blushing slightly. "Oh, its nothing, I'm just glad that Po is still able to enjoy life, especially after what happen to his home and people."

As the others began to join them, Rat Reed's crew could be seen carrying bag of fruit and grain toward a group of make shift tents.

"Say," Po said standing up, "what's with all the supplies anyway. I remember you saying you were asked to bring them, but way by sea?"

"Po has a point." Tai Lung muttered, "Couldn't the Gongmen City royal guards bring the supplies down the main road?"

"Well yes." a sheep said facing them, "But you see, with Gongmen City in disarray ever since Shen took control of the city, bandits have began stalking the main roads and getting supplies have become something of a problem."

"Bandits you say?" Tigress asked, a sly smile forming on her face. "Well, I'm up for a little training, how about you Po?"

Po returned the smile. "Yeah sure, what about you Tai Lung?"

The snow leopard cracked his knuckles, his grin just as wide as the others. "I'm game."

"Then its settle," Tigress said, "Monkey help Rat Reed's crew unload the supplies, Viper, you and Mantis see if they need any help with the wounded, and Crane, please tell Shifu where the three of us are going and that we'll be back soon."

"Oh you can't," the sheep demanded, "there's no way only the three of you can defeat these bandits. They're monsters!"

"With all due respect sir," Po said, "I've already faced down one monster…and his name was Shen."

With that, Po and the others made their way toward the main gate, a look of fierce determination rooted on their faces.

Forest between Coral Village and Gongmen City…

Thick forest foliage cast dark shadows along the ground, making it almost too easy for the band of croc bandits to lie and ambush anyone foolish enough to use this path. Life had taken a great turn for them ever since that mad peacock Shen marched through here over running the central kingdom of Gongmen City. The leader of the bandits, a croc by the name of Scales had been eyeing a nearby village know as Sea Side Coral for some time, lusting after its wealth of polish coral that washed up from the seabed, along with the sparkling diamonds they hauled out of their mine. Now with the Masters Council hard pressed cleaning up the mess Shen and his wolves had caused, pillaging from those pitiful cowards was far too easy.

"Hey Scales," someone shouted, "we've got another merchant on the road."

"Is he hauling coral?" Scales demanded as he rushed out of his tent.

A lone croc wearing red slacks and matching shoulder pads appeared before him speaking in a deep voice, "It looks like it as far as I can tell."

"Good, good," Scales said, "round up the men, I want that coral."

A lone robed figure marched across the forest path. There was a twinge in his step as though he had a broken leg. His tan robe appeared heavily bulky, which was stained in mud and completely concealed his body from head to toe and was even draped over his hands while the hem dragged across the ground. Hiding his face was a large cone shape hat. The robed cripple shoved a large cart before him over flowing with coral. Coral was a prize product sold in Gongmen City. Once it was grounded into a fine pounder, it could be used by healers and some say even by fortune tellers. All of which was of no concern to Scales, the only true value from coral was when the surface was smoothed to the point where it shined like diamonds.

"Wait for my single." Scaled order in a low whisper.

A pair of boars standing behind him began to chuckle. "Yeah right," one of them said, "wouldn't want the old bum to hobble off would we?"

An ox off to the side smacked a wooden club across the back of the boar's head. "Knock it off you two!" he snapped in a low whisper.

Scale remained quiet as his men bickered among themselves. He knew they'd be ready to strike when the time came. His focus was more rooted on the robed figure. There was something about him that seemed off. There was something about him that seemed off. For one thing the way he limped was all wrong, he didn't shift enough of his weight to his good leg to imply he was in any real pain. "Forget it," Scale said in a harsh tone, "I want you lot to stay clear of this."

"What, but why?"

"I don't like it."

A boar released a mocking sneer before saying, "Well you may have lost your nerve Scaly, but I'm going for that coral.

Before Scales could stop him, the boar along with the rest of his crew jumped out of the shadows to block the trader's path. Realizing that his hesitation would be seen as cowardice, the croc pulled out his saw blade and rushed out to join his band.

I only hope I'm not making a grave mistake.

The bandits easily overwhelmed the robe traveler, brandishing or swing their weapons around him, causing the poor soul to cringe and cry out in a weak tone, "Oh please, why would you wish to harm me?"

"We don't want you," an ox snapped pressing his club firmly against the travelers shoulder. "We want this here load of coral."

"Oh I don't think you'll be wanting this," the frail sounding figure said, "It's not worth much to the likes of you."

A boar grunted heavily as he forced his way between the man and his cart. "Get to stepping before we break that there other leg."

"Oh my leg works perfectly fine." the robed man said, a hint of laughter in his voice, "Here, let me show you."

Before Scales or his bandits could figure out what he meant, the robed figure preformed a swift spin kick planting his supposed broken limb against the cart sending it flying down the path knocking into a group of bandit in doing so.

"What the!?" Scales shouted as he snapped his eyes wide open with shock. He then turned back to glare at the stranger pulling his sword from his sheath. "Just who the devil are you?"

The lone figure brought his hands up and calmly undid the clasps allowing the heavy robe to fall to the ground. Several bandits released deep gasp while a few dropped their weapons as they beheld the giant panda that stood before them. He wore a set of dark blue slacks, an open gray vest trimmed in white with flame patterns down the sides. He stretched his arms about causing his biceps to flex and swell resulting in another set of gasp to flow. After a few more stretches, he took his hat off tossing it aside where it impaled a nearby tree. "My name is Po, the Dragon Warrior, and you guys have just made my list."

"What list?" a boar said.

A playful smirk formed on the panda's face as he said, "Of those I'm going to hit real hard." Po then slammed two bison in the gut with his fist and quickly leapt over them to deliver a powerful flying spin kick to three others.

"It's really the Dragon Warrior!" one of the bandits cried.

"Let's get out of here," another one snapped, "No amount of coral is worth this."

With that said several bandits ran off, dropping their weapons and in the process, caused several others to trip over them.

"Where are you going?" Scales shouted. "Who cares if he's the Dragon Warrior, he's still only one panda all by himself."

"You may want to do a recount."

The croc bandit released a fearful eep sound as the voice that just spoke did not belong to the panda. Slowly turning back around, Scale was shocked to see two new-comers standing alongside the panda, one a female tiger and the other a rather muscular look snow leopard.

"Looks like you started the party without us." the snow leopard said, "Again."

"Well maybe if you were faster Tai Lung." Po said playfully turning his back to the bandits, "You wouldn't miss out so much."

"Just what gives you the right to call me slow?" Tai Lung said thrusting his fist up just in time to smack a warthog from behind.

"Well you have to admit," the tiger said scrunching to avoid a sword swing following up with a swift spin kick, "You haven't been keeping up with the rest of us lately."

"Well—"

"Tigress's right buddy." Po cut in doing two quick jabs to lay out a pair of thugs, "And let's not forget how you've been holding back a few times, letting the rest of us face the full brunt of the bandits' attack."

"Hey now, there are other factors to consider." Tai Lung protested, back kicking a charging boar in the gut, "For one thing, I have a family, and I'm not just talking about Shifu and the Five, but Mea and Lilly. I get worried sometimes when I think about how they might react to hearing I've been killed."

A strange look passed between Po and Tigress.

"Wait until you two have kids," Tai Lung said with a fit of laughter in his voice, "then you'll understand."

The very mention of the possibility of having children one day caused Tigress to stop dead in her tracks, a hand brushing along her stomach. This pause however led rise to the bandit leader to attack from behind.

Seeing this, Po's eyes snapped open and he shouted a warning to Tigress, while at the same time thrust a palm out forward, hurling a beam of golden light straight at the croc. The bandit was completely unprepared for the panda's attack and the force of the beam sent him flying backwards, where he landed in a large mud puddle. The remaining thugs ran off after seeing the sheer strength the panda held. A pair of them however, stopped only long enough to gather up their fallen leader and then dashed out of sight, swallowed up by the dense forest.

Once the rapid footsteps of the retreating bandits faded into the distance, Tai Lung turned to Po and said in a calm voice, "One of these days you're going to have to tell me how you can do that."

"I wish I knew." Po said while eyeing his hands. The amount of chi needed to perform such an attack should have left him completely drained and gasping for air, and yet he felt fine. Shifting his attention away from this strange new power he held, Po came to stand next to Tigress gently placing a hand a top her shoulder saying, "Are you alright?"

Tigress held a look of annoyance as she brushed Po's hand away. "Of course I'm fine. I don't need you to look out for me. Don't forget, I've been dealing with creeps like these since I was twelve."

"Sorry," Po whispered, his gaze drifting away from the female tiger. "I was just worried. I don't want to lose you."

A warm smile formed on Tigress face as she raised a hand to his face and shifted his gaze back toward her. "I know my love," she whispered back, "I feel the same way."

The two of them were about to kiss when they heard Tai Lung release a loud grunt, followed with, "Hate to ruin the moment, but we should really be getting back and see if the others could use a hand with the repairs to the village."

Tigress growled while Po merely chuckled. "We'll have plenty of time for that later," he said scratching her chin causing her to purr.

"We had better." was all Tigress said gazing into Tai Lung's yellow eyes as she turned to leave.

"Uh…" the snow leopard stammered watching his sister walk off, "did I miss something?"

"I promise to explain later," Po said walking past him, though added in a hushed tone, "I just hope I'm not killed in the process."