Hello KFP fans! My name's Artsywriter1992, for those who don't know me I'm the author of a Monsters Inc fanfic called 'Be My Pal'. When that fanfic became popular, it gave me the confidence to write more fanfics. Now before I begin my story I want to explain important things about this fanfic.

First off, I love Kung Fu Panda, I love the action, I love the animation, I love the characters and the villains and I been wanting to do fanwork for these films for a long time. Because of these films, I grew interested in the Chinese culture.

Now, this was a project I was working on quite some time. I wanted to put the fanfic up early but I kept putting it on hold, due to changes. This was originally going to be base on theories of KFP3 and focus more on the Chinese folklore and its creatures, but since I saw the two trailers of KFP3 new ideas came to me. The folklore is still there but I'll decide to write that after I see the film because I want to learn more about Kai and how the supernatural works in the KFP universe. So this will be a big story in two parts.

As for this fanfic, I'm putting it as a setup to that story but takes place before the third film. Meaning it will be slightly AU. I don't how you guys feel about that or feel that it will focus on Po and Shen. Yes, I'm those fans that love Lord Shen, but I always felt the conflict between them never got any closure. I don't know if guys have seen this before (I don't remember seeing this in the art books) but I found an art concept on the KFPwiki Tumblr where it shows Po diving in the water to save Shen. Ever since I found that it raises some questions as to why DreamWorks never put this in the movie or what would happen if Po did save Shen, heck even in the commentary they mention Po really wanted to help Shen. And then this fanfic came to be. Again, this will have a connection to my folklore project, as soon as I see the third film I'll get a better glimpse of the supernatural. For those who want to see this art concept, I'll leave a link down below.

Okay I'm done ramblings let get on with the story, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Kung Fu Panda belongs to DreamWorks animation, its writers and directors Mark Osborne, John Stevenson, and Jennifer Yun Nelson

Kung Fu Panda: Finding the Path to Clemency

Chapter 1: The End to a New Beginning

This was it for him.

He could easily dodge it, but he just stood there, staring up at the cannon with wild raging eyes. He hadn't realized until now that he cut the ropes that were holding the wrecked up weapon. He had no time left, his weapon was coming down fast, yet he did nothing. His expression was almost unreadable as he continues to stare.

All of his hard work, all of his plains to rule the land, were now crumbled into pieces. All because of the prophecy and the warrior of black and white.

For years he was going to prove the Soothsayer wrong. With his weapon by his side, everyone was going to fear and bow down to him. He didn't believe that he would be defeated by anyone, he knew what his path is, and he knew that he was destined to rule China. But that panda, that pathetic imprudent panda took everything away from the Lord.

Lord Shen underestimated him but he still refused to believe the bear was stronger than him. But here he was, standing on what's left of his boat, waiting to be killed by his own creation. There was nothing for him to prove himself. The soothsayer's words echoed in his head.

"Nothing has changed."

She was right. He wouldn't admit it but he knew deep down, she had been right all along. This was his real fate. He didn't want it, he didn't want to die, but there was nothing for him anymore. Shen took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he dropped his Dao and waited for his cannon to end him.

It was a pain he never felt before. It felt like a boulder was crushing his chest, his ribs, and every last bone in his body. It almost felt like his head was going to crack open. He heard explosions surrounding him. The wooden boat and metal cannon took him down underwater. Shen opened his eyes slowly but his vision became blurred by the blue shadowy waters. The cannon sunken to the deep, the bubbles rushed out through its dragon's mouth and to the surface. The last remains of the cannon was its silhouette and a dim glowing red eye until it was finally swallowed by the darkness of the ocean.

Shen sensed his body sinking deeper. He didn't bother holding his breath for he knew he was going to the die. As his vision became hazier he saw something in front of him, something was blocking the ripples of sunlight. It looks like a black mist.

Could it be the darkness was coming to take his soul away? Is this what spending the last seconds of your life was like?

Shen didn't really know, if it really was death coming to collect him, then he was ready. Without thinking, he gradually lifted his wing to the dark mist, he saw that the darkness was reaching its hand to him too. The lord closed his eyes again and felt the paw of the mist grabbed his wing.

That was the last thing Shen remembered before he blacked out.

He grabbed hold of the peacock and quickly tried to swim back up before they both drowned.

Once he made to the surface Po gasped and coughed, taking a gulp of clean air. The panda panted as he looked around his surroundings. The panda and the peacock were far from the harbor, there were no boats left expect planks of burned wood floating above the water.

Po swam to the nearest and largest plank and pulled it towards him. He carefully laid Shen on the flat wood, the bird's train was still in the salty water but at least he was out of danger. Po then started to kick his legs as he pushed the plank using the last ounce of his strength. The water was becoming shallower as he kept swimming. Pretty soon the panda found a small beach that wasn't far from the Gongmen harbor.

Po struggled a bit standing up, his strained legs were tried. But his job wasn't done yet, his concerns were on Shen right now. He heaved the plank to the sands until Shen was finally out of the ocean. Finally, Po could relax for a moment.

He sat down on the wet sand next to the unconscious peacock. He looked down at him wondering if the insane lord was still breathing. He inched a little closer, slightly afraid if Shen was going to wake up and attack him again. Seeing the condition of Shen's body, the panda could only guess that he wasn't going to get up any time soon. His silk robe was torn, his feathers were ruffled badly with a few burn marks. Po could hear a small sound coming from Shen's lips, a slight moaned that was almost faint to hear. He sighed to himself. That moan answered his question.

Shen was alive.

The panda pondered on the situation, wondering what he should do next. Lost in his thoughts he stared off as more sun started to brighten up the cloudless sky. He turned when he heard the sound of fireworks going off. They crackled and shined brighter with colors of reds, whites, blues, and greens. He saw that the fireworks made a forum of a peacock and then the white mix with the yellow color to create a new image. It was an image that Po was familiar with, the yin and yang symbol.

"The lord of Gongmen will be defeated by the warrior of black and white…" Po whispered the prophecy to himself.

The Soothsayer explained to him what happened to his family, the reason why Shen attacked the pandas. She didn't tell much of the peacock's past only that it led him to the path that he chooses to take. But it still raised more questions to Po.

Why him? Why would there be such a prophecy? Why is his and Shen's path twined together?

His brows frowned. Po looks down at Shen, he thought that maybe there was more to them than he thought. Which leads to another question: Po had stopped Shen from taking over China, the prophecy is done, isn't it? But what's next?

He can't really leave the peacock behind, which was the whole reason why he went back. On that boat, Po stopped from his running and saw Shen wasn't behind him, he saw the peacock sunk down with the cannon. He just felt so horrible when he saw that, so he dove into the ocean saved him. He just couldn't leave Shen, not like that.

The panda then got up when he suddenly heard voices from a distance, it sounded like his friends.

"Po!" That was Crane's voice.

"Po where are you?" And that was Viper.

Po turned to Shen who was still unconscious. His glazed changed as an epiphany came to him. He picked up Shen and carried him behind his back. The peacock's burned and damped train dragged on the sand. Po climbed up the small sand dome and walked to the wooden walkway that leads back to the city harbor. He saw the forms of his friends coming closer to him; he gently laid Shen on platform of the dock and faced back to his family who were now in front of him.

Po gave them a small smile, "Hey guys…"

"PO!"

Viper, Crane, Monkey, and Mantis all jumped on Po causing the five of them to fell to the ground. They embraced the panda in a loving embrace almost crying tears of joy.

"We were so worried about you, I was worried about you the most!" cried Mantis.

"You did it, Po!" Monkey cried.

"Oh thank the gods, you're all right," said Viper who was crying the most.

"Don't you ever scare us like that okay?" said Crane happily to see his friend was alive.

Po was even happier that his friends were still moving and breathing. He hugged them back, giving them a tight squeeze. They looked up to see Tigress who held out her paw to the panda. The four friends got up and Po took her paw, getting back up on her feet.

He just stared at her and Tigress showed him a kind smile.

"That was pretty hardcore," she said.

Po smiled back and suddenly hugged her. Tigress felt her body stiffened, she wasn't expecting that. She saw the others were gawking at them with shocking wide eyes, Crane's mouth hanged opened. Po noticed them too and he gently put Tigress down, chuckling awkwardly. The two saw Master Shifu walked up to them, he stared up at Po with the staff in his hand and wore a warm smile.

"Well done Po, it seems you found inner peace," he said to his student.

"At such a young age…" he realized this and frowned to himself.

Po continued to smile, "I had a pretty good teacher."

Po pulled the old red panda into a hug but discovered that Shifu disappeared. He turned around and saw his master reappear behind him, standing on a post near the docks. Po turned around to face the ox and the crocodile as they stood together and respectfully bowed to him.

"Thank you, great Dragon Warrior," said Master Ox.

"We couldn't have done it without you," said Master Croc.

"We couldn't have done it without you guys," Po said with honestly. He bowed back to the masters.

Master Croc then looked down and pointed at the body of the fallen lord.

"So, what do we with him?" Mater Croc asked turning his attention to his friend.

The Five and Master Shifu now noticed Shen lying on the ground, shock to see him survived the explosions from the fireworks.

Master Ox started at Shen for a short moment before turning his gaze to the Dragon Warrior.

"Is he still alive?" the ox asked him.

Po nodded, "Yes. But I…I've made a decision."

Master Ox raised a brow to this as he and Master Croc listened with interest. Even the Furious Five looked at the panda with some confusion about this sudden decision. Po knows they weren't going to like this, he knows they were going to react and once he says it he can't take it back. But his mind was set on this, he was going to do this for Shen.

Po deeply sighed and stared at the two Masters straight in the eyes.

"I'm gonna take care of him."

And that was the first chapter! If guys like this and would like for me to continue this, let me know in your reviews. Also, I'm known to make a lot of mistakes in my fics even though I double-check the spelling and the sentences (no shame). If you see any mistakes let me know and I'll fix it. Thanks for reading and have a good day!

Here's the link to the art concept:

post/121134715824#post-notes