The Alternate Story.

Don't own Kung Fu Panda

Hey. The name's Lion. I'm a gray rat, 5'9" with a pretty sturdy tail. Now that we got the greetings out of the way, lets get to business. The story I'm about to tell you is a story of great triumph and sorrow, but I tell you this plainly; it was a mission. First of all, you must understand my job and friend. I am an undercover Kung Fu warrior that has the mission of helping others by the Master's will. The Master is this supernatural being that basically tells me how, when, where, who, why, and what to do. He sends us different places with different missions. It helps that I've had the time to master the many languages that the world has.

I said 'us' in the intro. That's because I have a partner named Po. He is a giant black and white panda about 6'1". He was born in China, but he hates his home town. You see, long ago before I met Po, he was picked on a lot. So when I offered to train him at the age of 13, he promptly went with me. He makes the journey much easier. It made me sad that we had to leave his foster father goose behind, but Po didn't seem to be homesick much. Probably because Mr. Ping, his father, would send letters where ever he went. It confused me how he knew where we were.

So this is the way of my life. We get the mission, we get warped away to the place, we do the mission, we stay around to make sure the community grows the right way, then we repeat the cycle. Our missions usually take about a month or five max. I look like 25 but I'm actually a lot older than I look, about 89. However, I've been doing this longer than Po has and we get a much longer lifespan because we work for the Master. Po is fairly young, about 25. Po's optimism and happiness in any situation really helps me go along with these missions, which sometimes calls for me to change how an entire community thinks. So I thought this wouldn't be a problem for him when I told him that we would be going back to China. I was wrong.

"What do you mean that we're going to China? WHY would we do that?" Po asked in frustration. We were in a small town in what you guys call Nepal, in the Himalayas. I rubbed my head seeing that this would be a difficult discussion.

"Po, we need to do this. The Master said that we are to be in China for a mission. Look on the bright side, you'll be closer to your father more than ever," I said trying to cheer him up. I failed.

"Wait, what do you mean by that? Are you telling me that we are going to the village I grew up in!?" Po groaned more than before. Po didn't hate China, he just didn't like the Valley of Peace in China, his hometown. I could understand. I wouldn't want to come home either if my entire village just saw me as a stupid idiotic panda.

"Come on, Po. Give these people a chance. Maybe they've changed since you've gone," I suggested.

"Or have forgotten me," Po muttered. I sighed. He was not going to be consulted. "Nothing good in my lifetime has ever come out of that place!"

"You did," I said very simply. He couldn't argue with that. He finally drew a long sigh and said.

"What are we going to do there?"

"I don't know," I replied, "The Master just asked us to get to the Valley in the least amount of time. So we better start getting ready." Po and I started to pack our very little amount of things, went through the natural tears and sadness of saying good-bye to the people we protected. We were in that village for four months and already we felt like we were separating from our family. As we went on the road down the snowy mountain, we were warped away to a grassy bamboo-filled forest. Po's face sank.

"We're here," He grumbled. I sighed.

"You're going to have to at least pretend like you actually like this village. Just think about the kids in there," I said. Po smiled. He loved the children. Little sparkles of happiness is what he called them. "When we get there we will have to stay low key. That means no fighting bad guys until nighttime or when no one is looking. Got it?"

"Got it. Still, I don't like this place," Po complained. Finally, the view of the village came into view. On top the large mountain in the center of the village was the Jade Palace. Po told me a lot of that place, even though he himself haven't been there. He was very excited about seeing it when he was a child in the Valley. Now, the palace seemed to only bring bitter memories of despair.

Finally, we came to the entrance of the village. No one seemed to notice Po, which was good if we were to make this mission possible. Pigs, ducks, and bunnies all past us with curious and weird faces. "Don't worry," Po advised me, "They'll always look at strangers or weird people like that. Let's get to my father's shop." It had been two years since Po last saw his father. The shop was little. It was the same way I found it when I met Po. Behind the visible kitchen was a goose and a teenage snow leopard. We casually waited until it was closing time to see Mr. Ping. After it was closing time, I saw the teenaged snow leopard leave with a sad face. That was strange considering he was happy all throughout the day. As I watched him go out the door, I turned my attention back to Po going to the kitchen.

"I'm sorry but we're closed." Said the goose.

"Dad, it's me, Po!" Po laughed. Mr. Ping was speechless for a moment before running up and hugging Po. It really had been a long time.

"And Lion, it's good to see you," he said hugging me. "Come. Come. Make yourself comfortable upstairs. I left the room just how you left it, Po." I groaned.

"If that's true, we won't be able to find our way out in the morning," I joked earning a playful punch from Po.

"So, since I know that you guys are always on a mission, what brings you here?" Mr. Ping asked.

"We're on a mission. We don't know what, but we were told to come here. So tell us what's changed?" Po asked. That was going be an interesting conversation.