A/N: I hope you guys enjoy the story and I look forward to hearing what you have to say! Please feel free to criticize so I can make the stories better and more interesting. Also if you want to comment on something you liked or didn't like please don't hesitate to do so. Also there are going to be some pairings including Ti/Po, and Vi/Cr as well as a few references and appearences of characters from the first and second movies and LOA show. Lastly this first chapter is the intro so it wont have the pairings yet. Thats the second chapter! Now onto the main event!
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of my imagination or used in a fictitious way. Any resemblance to real people, living or dead, or real events is purely coincidental. I do not own Kung Fu Panda or any of its characters, locations, etc, in any way. DreamWorks owns Kung Fu Panda. Duh!
"This cannot be happening!" muttered a certain Kung fu warrior who was getting increasingly frustrated as he scrambled to find a few unused scrolls in his room.
It was getting really stuffy in there despite the window being open but he wasn't worried about that right now. The panicking warrior became a flash of black and white fur as he rummaged around for what seemed like an eternity until he finally found what he needed.
Po Ping, otherwise known as the dragon warrior, had been busy doing chores for his father while he was away on a business trip. Ordinarily this would have been fine; except today he was supposed to attend an important meeting at the Jade Palace. Po forgot all about the meeting and absentmindedly agreed to take care of his father's chores only to later remember that the meeting was on the same day.
Shifu had personally instructed Po to write down any important information that would be said during the meeting. He also remembered his master saying that the meeting was at noon and under no circumstance should the panda be late. Unfortunately for Po, he only remembered the meeting just as he was finishing up his chores. This currently left the panda scouring his room in search for something to write on. He had found two writing scrolls rather quickly and now just needed one more. Unfortunately, time was running out.
"Oh man, Shifu's going to kill me! He told me about that meeting a week ago!"
The panda paused momentarily to pick up a last scroll that was resting inside a hidden basket of cabbages. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed. Well, to be fair, I am the dragon warrior. And I did have a pretty eventful week with those croc bandits terrorizing the valley. Maybe Shifu will understand.
He thought about it for a second before shaking his head. "Ah who am I kidding?! Shifu's not going to buy that! And no amount of dragon warrior talk is going to stop what he'll do to me if I miss this meeting!"
He thought about what happened the last time he missed an important event like today and cringed, "Okay Po, get a grip on yourself, no need to go back to that nightmare." he said to himself reassuringly. "Well at any rate, there's nothing I can do about it now, I better just get to the palace!"
Resolved, Po placed the recovered scrolls into a small green carrying bag and tossed it over his shoulder. He then proceeded to make his way out of the noodle shop, lock the front door, and began his journey up the seemingly endless flight of stairs that led to the Jade Palace. Unbeknownst to the panda, over the next couple of days his life would be drastically changed. And not for the first time.
After successfully beating his age-old foe once again, Po let out a small cry of success. He was finally getting used to the stairs. Of course his lungs still burned, knees still ached, and his desire for water was still overwhelming. But this time he hadn't stopped to throw up, and in Po's case that was a significant improvement. He took a few moments to catch his breath and then opened the main doors of the palace.
The doors creaked slightly, revealing a large group of people who seemed to be arguing about something. Suddenly everyone stopped their conversations and turned to see who it was that dared interrupt such an important meeting. It was so quiet that Po could've heard a pin drop. Seeing that it was the dragon warrior who stood before them, the crowd simply dropped their icy glares and went back to their previous conversations.
Po, thankful for the status that he had, walked over to the large group of people. Somewhere inside the mass of bodies he would find Shifu and the furious five. He took the time to look at the other guests as he searched for his master. From the way they were talking and how they were dressed Po had to assume they were nobles. A few of them even had guards following them.
Po even saw a few Kung-fu masters who seemed to be in heated debates much to their dismay. Po smiled instinctively, but the smile vanished when he remembered why he was in such a hurry. Right now he had to find Master Shifu. There would be time for autographs later. At least, he hoped so.
Good, It looks like they haven't started the meeting yet. Po was starting to think he was in the clear, and thats when he saw a certain red panda walk towards him rather urgently. His eyes were twitching slightly as he glared at his pupil. Po knew that face, he'd seen it enough to know that his master wasnt happy. That doesnt look good. Shifu was looking very stressed at the moment and Po really didn't want to be around the red panda when he blew his top. Unfortunately it appeared that Shifu's stress was going to be specifically aimed at the unlucky panda.
Po said his prayers and walked over to meet his fuming master. "You're late Po, where have you been!" Shifu hissed keeping his voice down and trying to mask his rage.
Po noticed it anyway and stared blankly at his master who seemed very interested in his student's next answer. Shifu also looked like he could do a lot of particularly painful things to the panda if he didn't like what he heard.
"What do you mean late? By the look of things you guys haven't even started the meeting yet. I mean…even if I'm a few minutes late doesn't mean-" Shifu put his hand out to stop the panda and rubbed his forehead in frustration.
"Po the meeting has been over for twenty minutes!" Shifu took a second to regain his composure, mouthing something that looked like inner peace, and then continued his lecture. "This is the after discussion. You missed a very important meeting today and I want to know why."
A few moments passed as Po stared at Shifu while mentally debating whether he should lie to his master. In the end he decided to tell the truth, besides; he was in enough trouble as it was and Shifu probably would have found out eventually. Po hung his head in defeat and sighed before weaving his tale to his master.
Once Po finished his story he noticed that most if not all the rage in Shifu's face had melted away. If anything Shifu more or less seemed to understand Po's situation and was now thinking of what to say to him.
The red panda nodded and spoke very quickly. "Well you did make a mistake but since you were honest with me, I will overlook this incident due to your responsibility to your father. But next time don't make the same mistake in planning again."
Shifu then hurriedly walked back to the crowd almost completely ignoring the panda. The strange restlessness in his master's voice and actions started to put Po on edge.
"Wait, no punishment? Aren't you still upset?" Po asked quite puzzled.
Wait, what am I saying?! Po was starting to feel very anxious. Shifu hadn't publicly shown his anger like that ever since Po had defeated Tai Lung. He was usually very serene despite the constant irritation that life tended to throw at him. Of course Po knew that he could sometimes push his master over the edge too, but he had never seen Shifu that angry before. Something wasn't right here.
Po knew that he had the innate ability to annoy Shifu, sometimes that was the highlight of his day. But either way Po was always disciplined for his mistakes. Even when it was something minor there was a consequence. Shifu knew how prove a point, whether it was through lectures or disciplinary measures. It was strange that Shifu was just letting him off the hook, especially after getting so upset with him.
Strangely this sort of stress built anger was unlike anything Po had ever seen. There had to be something else going on here. Po was sharper than most people thought; he was just bad at putting things into words. It also didn't help that he acted like a child when he met anyone famous. Either way he'd be a fool if he didn't push the question further. And daddy didn't raise no fool!
He spoke urgently, "Shifu, what is it? Is everything ok?"
The red panda stopped in his tracks and faced his student. He could hear the concern in the panda's voice and slowly looked up to meet Po's gaze.
"It's what we were discussing at the meeting Po. Come with me, I need to show you something."
The small red panda turned around again and led Po back into the crowd. Po noticed a few masters of varying statuses as he walked by. Some of them he had even met before on one occasion or another from nearby provinces.
"Now Po, this master Baka I'm about to introduce you to is a lead member of the Kung-Fu council. That said, he can be very energetic so, for both our sakes, please be on your best behavior."
Po nodded in compliance, his inner fan was already beginning to rise within him but he pushed it down with a little effort. After a bit of walking through the crowd, master Shifu finally found the person he was looking for.
The duo made their way over to a brown robed Rhino who seemed to be locked in a brutal one-sided debate with three smaller leopard nobles. They were all dressed in ugly dark green cloaks but underneath Po could see that they were actually wearing extravagant looking robes. All three of them had their hoods off and were glaring daggers at the large figure standing in front of them..
Po had to strain his ears over the crowd to hear what the lead leopard was saying. He was the tallest of the three leopards and seemed to be the most dangerous. A curved sword hung at his hip and Po was sure that he knew how to wield it.
The main leopard spoke with a large hint of annoyance and fury in his voice. "You know what this will lead to! We all do! How can you stand back and let this happen to us! Just you wait Baka, it may not happen right away but slowly things will begin to turn and then there will be no way to stop it. Then you will see that I was right and you will pay for your ignorance!"
The Rhino stood there impassively with his arms crossed, showing no emotion at all as he towered over them taking the brunt of their verbal abuse.
Po leaned over to Shifu, "This guy's energetic? He could've fooled me."
Shifu shook his head slightly, a small grin appearing on his face, "You will see panda…you will see."
Suddenly the rhino raised his hand signaling that he had heard enough. The lead leopard's eyes bulged in rage at the rhino interrupting him but he went completely silent nonetheless.
Baka snorted, "Hmph! You don't fool me Kato, all you're concerned with is your money." The large rhino's shoulders drooped and he sighed roughly while still holding his apathetic stare, "I will do what I can. But all we can really do at the moment is observe if there is no evidence of a threat. Now go home and calm down. I will further look into this matter, if I find anything out you will be the first to know. I assure you."
The three leopards glared angrily at the old rhino but found nothing to say to his response. They quickly spun on their heels and walked away signaling that they were finished talking. People in the crowd noticed the malice in the main leopard's eyes and made sure to give him plenty of room. Just in case.
Baka sighed again as he watched the disgruntled trio exit the palace. He then turned around to see his old friend Shifu standing behind him. Immediately Baka's emotionless face became such an enthusiastic smile that it slightly disturbed the big panda. "Master Shifu! It's so good to see a face that doesn't want to rip my head off. All I've dealt with this afternoon is one complaint after another to no end!"
"Yeah who were those guys?"
"Ah, and this must be your highly esteemed dragon warrior. Good to finally meet you lad!" Baka reached for Po's hand and shook it violently.
Po was still being shaken left and right when he answered back, "Whoa, thanks! It's nice to meet you to!" Eventually Baka let go leaving the poor panda clutching at his right hand, the large rhino had nearly crushed it without even knowing.
"Well that particular ray of sunshine that I just had the pleasure of speaking with is the infamous Kato Geming, the other two are his sons. Kato is a greedy, dangerously hot-tempered noble with a vast amount of wealth and an even larger amount of friends in high places. He's been known to be very aggressive at times and is not to be trifled with...well not if you like your head attached to your shoulders."
Po gave the rhino a shocked look, "Really! He murders people!"
Master Baka laughed suddenly, "Oh, heavens no! That would be too easy. See if he did that then we would have evidence to have him arrested. He's too smart for that, instead he uses thugs and assassins to do the dirty work, that way there's no proof and we can't touch him. He's very secretive, some might even be bold enough to say paranoid though not in his presence. Most people who cross Kato end up dead, the rest go missing. He's only interested in himself and his pursuit of money, and he'll remove anyone who stands in the way of what he wants, including other lords and nobles. One day we'll catch him and then he'll pay for the wrongs he's committed. But until then we're just going to have to deal with the little-"
Master Shifu coughed to get their attention again. "Ahem, Master Baka, the dragon warrior was not present during our meeting and I need to show him the letter."
The Rhino's face hardened even more at the mention of the letter and Po could tell that whatever it was, it couldn't possibly be good.
"Ah, I see. It's right here." Baka reached into his robe producing a thin scroll for Po to see. "I was hoping to talk to you about it anyway dragon warrior, of course the five should hear this too but I haven't seen them at all since the meeting started."
"No need, I told them about the letter and sent them to pack."
"Pack? Are we going somewhere?"
"Why don't we go somewhere more private to discuss this, no?"
Baka led Po and Shifu out to the courtyard and checked over his shoulder to make sure no one had followed them. He then walked over to a nearby table and spread the scroll over it. Po had already noticed that it was an imperial scroll by its outer design; he even recognized that it was signed by the emperor now that it was opened. But he never would have guessed what was written inside.
Po took a few moments to read the contents of the scroll and by the time he had finished reading he had nearly gone into shock. Inside the scroll it read, Greetings citizens of China. As many of you may know, our country is very strong and prides itself on its culture and military. However, there are other nations similar to ours that have recently fallen to an unknown invading force. Despite our good fortune in the past years I do regret to inform you that this relentless horde is sweeping over Asia and will eventually come to China to determine which force is greater. In order to withstand this onslaught I have sought the aid of an ally nation. So far, only the island of Japan has answered my call to arms. Peace negotiations will be held to further determine our relations with the Japanese. Please remain calm during this process and under no circumstance must any hostilities occur. Such incidents would be detrimental to the benefit of our society and will be penalized with severe punishment. –Signed The Emperor of China.
Po stood there for a second to gather his thoughts, his eyes were wide and his mouth hung open as he tried to wrap his mind around what he just read. His throat was dry; he tried to swallow and felt a small knot forming in his throat.
Several moments passed and he eventually found his voice, "But what does the emperor mean by peace negotiations, aren't we on good terms with Japan? And where did these invaders come from? And what did he mean by call to arms? How long do we have before those invaders get here?"
Master Shifu spoke to cut off his students rambling, "Right now we need to focus on the current threat which could possibly be Japan. To answer your question, yes we are on good terms with the people of Japan as of right now. However, they may try to take advantage of us during this time of confusion. The emperor has to make sure they can be trusted to be our allies."
Master Baka turned to Po who still seemed a little shocked, "This is why the people are upset. Some nobles would gladly accept the added protection of Japan while others think that it would be foolish to allow foreign soldiers into our land." He sighed under his breath, "The problem is, both sides hold valid points and we can't convict Japan of doing something they haven't done yet." He placed his hand on Po's shoulder. "This is why we want you and the five to accompany the emperor on this meeting."
Po smiled naturally, "No way, this is so awesome! Me and the five get to hang out with the Emperor, that is so cool!" Po's excitement got the better of him and he was about to start daydreaming when Shifu cut him off.
"This is not a game Po, you are to protect and guard him only." Shifu spoke coolly, "You must be a shadow. You remember what I taught you about shadows right?"
"Uh, they don't talk?"
"Good boy."
Shifu turned around, "The others have already been briefed on the mission. You will all be leaving tomorrow. I sent a messenger to tell the emperor that you will be arriving at the palace in a few days. Now remember. All you have to do is protect the Emperor and discover whether or not the Japanese mean us any harm. Do you understand?"
He received a quick nod of reassurance from the panda after which he told the dragon warrior to get some rest and sent him away.
"Quite a student you've got there Shifu, I'll bet your real proud of him huh."
"Well, he does have his moments. What really concerns me is why the Emperor didn't send any of us a warning the instant these invaders were reported. I mean, doesn't that seem a little odd to you?"
Baka chuckled, "I'll admit that it's a bit strange, but why are you even surprised? You of all people know how busy a man he is. When was the last time you saw Emperor Chang anyway?"
Shifu sighed softly, "It's been a long time Baka. Too long for my taste. I really don't like him keeping things from the council…I don't know Baka, I've got a weird feeling about this. I think there are darker things at work here than just this oncoming war, but it seems only time will tell."
The large rhino gave a grunt in response. "Well for our sake, I hope you're wrong Shifu."
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oo
Po sprinted up the staircase to the student barracks to tell his friends the good news. He had actually managed to get three new signatures from the visiting martial arts masters. Not only did he get the autographs, but he was also going to meet the Emperor! Po couldn't believe his luck! He was so excited about his new mission that he almost forgot that his friends were already fast asleep in their rooms.
He only remembered when he heard a slight shifting sound in Viper's room. Viper moaned softly as her body uncoiled itself. Po tensed; hoping that he hadn't entirely woken her up and waited for her to drift back to sleep. He could hear Viper's sinuous body sliding over the hard polished floor as she recoiled herself and fell back asleep. Po sighed mentally when the noise faded; he gave it a few seconds just to be sure she was fully asleep, and then quietly made his way over to his room.
Luckily for Po, Master Shifu had replaced the old floorboards of the Jade Palace with sturdier ones once it became obvious that his stay was going to be permanent. In fact, most of the entire palace had gone through re-modification in some way, shape, or form to deal with Po's weight and size. Surprisingly this worked well for everyone and no complaints were made. The dragon warrior silently slid his door open, placed his green bag on the floor, and slipped into bed. Within moments the large panda's eyes got very heavy and he drifted to sleep.