This has popped out of my mind now and got me thinking, 'How did Mantis ever get to hang around Monkey's shoulder all the time?' Also, how did they meet? I was surprised that no one got to do that, so I thought here's my chance. So here's my take on how Mantis and Monkey got to be friends. This takes a couple of years before the events of the first 'KFP.'

How Mantis Met Monkey

by: Terrell James

Several years ago, a young bug named Mantis ventures off to form his destiny by training kung-fu at the Jade Palace in the Valley of Peace with the world-famous Master Shifu. He knew that it has always been his dream to do something like this since his younger years. Even though he is very small, it doesn't stop him from going after his dream as a kung-fu master.

One night, Mantis ventured on his journey to the Valley of Peace by a boat, leaving his home to get after his destiny. A few hours have passed and he ventures off for the night to set up camp, just to give himself a rest before he continues off on his journey.

He sighed softly and looks up at the stars and wondered that he's actually gonna live the dream. He knows that he's always said that he'll be a kung-fu master one day and now it's the real thing as he received that scroll that he's gonna train with Master Shifu.

Yet he still felt really nervous on the inside about how this might be a reality, leaving his family to go after his destiny alone. He hops towards his tent to get himself some sleep, hoping to get there by morning.

Hours passed by and suddenly, a rustling sound came out of nowhere and it woke Mantis up. He gets up and asked, "Who was that?"

He pops out of the tent and goes on the search to find who it is. He walks over towards the bushes and said, "Whoever you are, show yourself!"

Mantis saw the bushes moving and he wanted to come closer to it. When he managed to get near the bushes, he got hit in the arm by something hard and screams out in pain as he fell down on the ground.

Then, the mysterious figure was just a young golden langur with blue eyes and he pops out to find what that sound came from. He looks down and sees that he hit a mantis. He gasped in shock and tries to wake him up, but no response.

"Oh no."

He panics and picks him up and takes him to the same spot the mantis was in. He gently sits him down on the ground and tries to use a small piece of shaolin wrap on his arm and his pincers and wrapped it on his legs, hoping that it'll heal. He stayed in front of him, hoping that he wakes up any second.

Seconds later, Mantis groans heavily and opens his eyes and sees the golden langur up close. He gets alarmed, jumps up out of nowhere with a combative stance and asked, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The golden langur panicked again and stuttered, "I-I-I-I'm Monkey."

Mantis then calms down and it was the first time he's ever seen one before. He turns his head sideways and said, "I've never seen a monkey before."

"You haven't?"

"Never."

Monkey chuckled and said, "Well, here I am. It kinda runs in my family, I guess."

Mantis smiled at him and said, "Sometimes I wonder which side of my family's from."

"You're funny."

"Well, anyway I'm Mantis."

"No birth name?"

"Nah, my parents couldn't think of a name when I was born, so they just call me Mantis."

"Mine's Zao Ki, but the name sounds kinda lame and embarassing, so people just call me 'Monkey.'"

Mantis lets out a small chuckle and said, "You're funny as well."

"Well, I guess we're both funny then. This is actually the first time I ever saw a mantis before. Usually, some are kinda...unusual."

"Really? Well, this is kinda close to unusual as it goes. Don't know why, but I guess this is how I am. I've always been kinda weird at times and my family is somewhat weird and normal."

Mantis chuckled a little and then noticed some pieces of shaolin wrap around his legs and his pincers and asked, "Hey, why do I have these things on my arms and legs?"

Monkey sees this and fears that he'll get really upset when he finds out that accidently hit him and he turns away slowly and he answered, "Well...promise me you won't get upset."

"Why should I be?"

"Because...I kinda accidently...well, sorta...threw a small rock and it kinda...landed at...you." Monkey answered, nervously.

Mantis gasped in shock and asked, "You did WHAT?"

"I didn't even know it was you! I thought it might be some intruders or robbers coming for me!"

"You're dead."

Mantis comes at Monkey as he starts running. Mantis chased after him throughout the woods and hides on the bushes. Mantis looks for him and then he hears someone sneeze and then, he caught Monkey in the bushes.

Monkey hears a chirp come out of nowhere, looks up and sees Mantis in seething rage. Monkey whispered, "Aw, crap it."

Monkey runs off and Mantis still chased after him and about 10 minutes later, both of them headed back to Mantis' camp in exhaustion and fell down on the ground giving them a chance to breathe.

Monkey looks at Mantis as he takes a moment to catch his breath and told him, "Okay, look. I never meant to to harm you. It's just that I've been sent here on a mission and...I thought I heard someone coming to come after me, but I didn't know it was you. I took some of my shaolin wrap and wrapped it on your legs and arms just so you can heal. It was never my intention to harm someone like you. It was just an accident and I feel really bad about it. I'm sorry."

Mantis sighed heavily and replied, "Apology accepted, friend."

"You are? I mean, you are."

"Hey, it's cool. You know, I always take it personal when someone sits on me or hits me with a small object or whatever, like they meant to do it on purpose, but since you said it was an accident, then no hard feelings."

Monkey chuckled and asked, "What are you doing out here, anyway?"

"Well, I got a message from Master Shifu and Master Oogway to come to the Jade Palace to do some training there."

Monkey's eyes widened up and said, "I got sent from Master Shifu to find this person named Mantis to take him to the palace with me."

"Shut up...really?"

"Yeah."

"That's great! I didn't expect someone to take me in with them. Maybe we can team up and head there together?"

"Sure."

"Cool."

"We'll get there tomorrow. Hop on my shoulder."

Mantis has never been on anyone's shoulder before and felt really surprised and asked, "You don't mind?"

"Of course not. I'll look out for you."

"What the heck?"

Mantis hopped on Monkey's shoulder and went back to Mantis' camp and Monkey sets up camp as well. Both of them started talking and got to know each other and they were laughing as well.

The next day, Mantis and Monkey packed up and headed for the boat to head towards the Valley of Peace. Mantis asked, "You ever been on a boat before?"

"I think I have."

"Don't worry. It'll be smooth sailing."

They took off on the boat and several minutes in, they heard something coming from under the water and Mantis asked, "What was that?"

"I don't know."

"Keep your eyes open."

Monkey looks towards the water and then spots some crocs swimming underneath. Mantis hopped on Monkey's shoulder and asked, "Did you find anything?"

"I saw a croc looking at us."

"A croc?"

Then, out of nowhere, three croc bandits surround the boat, coming after Monkey and Mantis. Both of them went out and beat them down. One croc comes after Mantis, but Monkey runs over and takes him down with his legs and slams him down hard.

One croc lands a blow on Monkey's face and Mantis got furious and said, "No one does that to my best friend!"

He grabs his tail, spins around and throws him in the air. Monkey gets himself up and Mantis asked, "You okay?"

"I think so." Monkey replied.

Then, they both look up and the croc shakes his tail and mocks, "Come and get me if you can!"

"Okay, that is immature in so many ways." Mantis said.

"Let's take him down."

Mantis hops on his shoulder while Monkey climbs up and bashes the croc's face and Mantis hops out of Monkey's shoulder and kicks him down and bashes his face and both of them beat him down as the croc falls deep into the water.

All of the croc swim away in fear and both Mantis and Monkey cheered for each other and exclaimed, "We did it!"

"They won't be coming back here."

"Well, seems as though we have nowhere to head to the Valley of Peace now that the boat's destroyed."

Soon enough, they started walking on the way there and they came across this duck, to their surprise, has a boat on the river. The duck sees them and asked, "Saw you took down those crocs. Very amazing."

"Thanks."

"My name's Rhi Bang."

"I'm Monkey and this is my new friend, Mantis."

"Nice to meet you." Mantis said.

"So, where are you guys off to?"

"We're off to the Valley of Peace. I'm taking him back with me to introduce him to Master Shifu."

Rhi Bang gasped in shock and asked, "The Master Shifu?"

"Yes."

"He's going there to do some training."

"I know the way from here. Hop in."

"Thank you, sir."

Both of them hopped on the boat and headed on their way to the Valley of Peace and Monkey said, "I never saw someone like you do some serious kung-fu moves."

"I was thinking the same thing about you." Mantis replied.

"Looks like we both have great skills."

"I gotta be honest with you, I'm kinda excited and nervous about meeting Master Shifu and Oogway. They're both excellent in kung-fu."

"They're amazing teacher. It made me feel very honored to be in their prescence."

"But you know the great part of that journey is?"

"What's that?"

"Having a new friend...or should I say best friend?"

Monkey lets out a smile to know that Mantis refers to him as his best friend. Mantis hopped on his shoulder and Monkey said, "This is the start of a kung-fu friendship."

"Well, here we are, the Valley of Peace."

Mantis gasped in amazement as he arrived there for the first time and said, "Wow..."

"I always thought it was bigger." Mantis said.

"Pretty cool, huh? It's basically a peaceful tight-knit valley, but really cool. Thanks, sir."

"No problem. Good luck, little bug."

"Did he just call me 'little bug?' I take it to heart when someone calls me that."

"I'm sure it was a compliment."

"Little favor? Don't judge me because of my size."

Monkey chuckles and said, "I won't. I promise."

Both Mantis and Monkey hopped off the boat and made their way to the valley and made their way to the Jade Palace. They looked up at the stairs and Mantis asked, "We have to go through all this stairs?"

"We might as well. It gets tiring for a while, but you get used to it."

They managed to get there and suddenly, they went to the top and Zeng, the messenger answered the door and Monkey said, "Hey, Zeng. I'm back. Brought our new student here."

"Oh, of course. I'll get Master Shifu to-"

"No need."

Shifu came out and said, "Monkey, welcome back. Mantis. We've been expecting you."

"It is an honor to meet you." Mantis said.

Both of them came in and they see Crane, Tigress and Viper standing here and to Crane's delight, he walked up to them, welcomed back Monkey, then he looked at Mantis and said, "Hey, I'm Crane."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Mantis."

"Great to meet you guys."

"Looks like we have three boys here now." Tigress said.

"I think the small bug's kinda cute." Viper said, with a giggle.

Tigress rolled her eyes in disgust and greets them for the first time and Viper greeted them as well.

"Welcome to the Jade Palace." Viper said.

"I think I'm already welcome here." Mantis said,

Monkey and Mantis talked to the others about how they met and how they managed to get there. It fueled up their interests and it seems as though Mantis and Monkey are starting to become really good friends.

And that's how they met. Hope ya'll like it! Let me know what you think! If it needs editing or changes, let me know and I'll fix them. Later!