I don't own Kung Fu Panda

Don't believe everything you hear… Po thought about it all the way down to the bottom of the stairs. When saying something over and over again at some point it started to feel weird. That's what Po was starting to get. A weird feeling that was about to continue expanding.

"I say we leave at night." Deep in thought, Po never noticed he had reached the last step, as well as his friends.

"Master Shifu said this was urgent. We can't wait for an extra day." Crane argued.

"It won't be an extra day." Mantis interrupted. "Just a couple of hours. We stay, have breakfast, maybe lunch, meanwhile, we let Tigress rest." Crane, Viper, and Mantis looked at their leader. "Look at her, she kinda needs it."

"Thanks for the spotlight, Mantis…" Tigress grumbled. "Can't believe I'm going to say this." She rubbed her temples with one paw. "Fine. Let's leave at night. I do need to rest for some minutes, maybe a couple of hours." She rubbed her left shoulder a couple of times. "After that, each of us takes a path and continue with the mission." In unison, heads nodded. Mantis left with Monkey, and Crane followed behind. Viper and Po stayed with Tigress. Po didn't know if it was a strategy to led her tiger friend into an interrogation, but this was an opportunity.

Viper started the conversation. "So... Tigress, what do you say to some Mr. Ping noodles before heading to take your sleep?" she eyed Po to continue.

"Yeah… It's been a while, and my dad kinda made a new combination, you'll probably like it."

Tigress sighed and started walking. "Let's get some noodles." Viper and Po winked at each other. "Let's noodle up!" Po said with great enthusiasm.

The three friends made their way into Mr. Ping noodle restaurant, and unlike the afternoons, in the morning there weren't any customers. Actually, Mr. Ping was barely starting to open up shop as he was wiping the floor of the entrance. He saw them approach and ran back inside the kitchen to start preparing meals.

"Master Tigress it's good to see you again!" He greeted as they entered. "Po was so worried for you."

"Was he?" Tigress smirked at her friend, and Po only blushed at the remark.

"Oh. I haven't seen him so worry since the day he went to look for his kung fu toys I gave away…" he said as he continues to chop down vegetables.

"Dad…" Po said between a chocked, and fake laughter. "I… was worried, it was two months." He said looking at the floor, a little embarrassed after his father comments. "Which, by the way, you haven't talked about…" Viper facepalmed with her tail. "I'll just keep nagging, come on tell us. Just to the two of us. Please?" he said with puppy eyes.

Tigress eyed them carefully. Although she was under strict orders to keep confidential, a tiny bit of information couldn't hurt. "You were right, Po. I didn't trip." She paused thinking of the best phrasing to her next words. "There was a fight. I underestimated my opponent, they… weren't your normal kung fu fighter."

Viper gasped. "How many did you fought?"

"Just two, but those were enough."

"We should have gone with you."

"It's ok. Po. I think Shifu also underestimated that mission, it's alright, it still needed to be done in stealth, and you aren't exactly cut out for that type of adventure." Tigress said with a soft, short laughter. They sat down and Mr. Ping brought them noodle soup. Tigress smelled it "Oh... I missed this."

Viper and Po looked at each other and exchanged glances. Tigress ignored them, even though she knew exactly what they were thinking, instead, her focus went into enjoying a delicious soup. She couldn't remember how long it had been since her last meal. Been on the run was a difficult, dangerous, and unhealthy task. She was actually surprised Viper hadn't said something about her slimness, maybe her week without eating hadn't affected her that much, although it felt like it.

"If you need anything else, just let me know." Mr. Ping said from behind the kitchen counter. Tigress looked up and smiled at the suggestion. "Actually, Mr. Ping, I would like more soup." She stood up and took the bowl with her.

"Do we continue asking?" Po whispered and Viper shrugged. "She seems in a good mood."

"We can ask, but just a few more, she does need to rest. We can't keep her up too long." Po nodded. "Let's choose our questions carefully." As she said this, Tigress came back. Neither of them spoked immediately. Po wasn't sure what to ask. How could he start? Hey Tigress, is it true you killed Master Weasel? Or. Hey Tigress, are you and Master Shifu in a conspiracy about killing Master Weasel? He laughed internally. As he said this it actually sounded silly.

"Tigress. How is your heel feeling?" Tigress turned to answer Viper, but Po didn't hear a response, he continued to think about his question. In mid-sentence, he interrupted Viper. "What did you mean with they weren't normal kung fu fighters?"

Tigress took another spoon with soup into her mouth before responding. "They had special training, or at least that's what I picked up from them. I don't think they trained with a known Master."

"Did they have any special move?" Viper asked as she finally started to eat her own soup.

"Uhm, well." Tigress gave a long yawn out. "You know what, I'll go to sleep now." She stood up. "Mr. Ping, could I borrow a room?"

Po stood up immediately before his father even had a chance to answer. "Don't worry Dad. I'll take her." They left Viper eating, she trusted Po would get at least one more answer out of her friend. Although he tried, Tigress never let on more than what she had said before.

However, right before Po opened the door of the bedroom, he tried one more time, but not with a question. "Tigress. You won't tell me anything, and I trust that whatever mission you had, it was important and therefore confidential. But, as your friend, I want to let you know, that whatever you did it was probably in good intentions." His tiger friend looked at him confused. "I hope one day you can tell me."

Tigress smiled. "One day. Right now, it's too soon and too fresh, although I don't know what you were referring to. Believe me, it's important, and Master Shifu asked me to keep it quiet." She placed her paw on his shoulder as she went inside the room. Oh. Well, he tried.

He went downstairs to meet up with Viper again. Both of them walked outside of the store to search for the rest of the team. Not far from them, Monkey and Mantis were arguing what to take on their long trip. One was fighting for the food, while the other for commodities. Crane couldn't keep up with the many arguments thrown by Monkey and Mantis, he gave an enormous sigh as he saw Po and Viper approach. "Did she tell you something?"

"No. She didn't." Po answered.

"Well, it was to be expected." Crane went back to look at Mantis who was now throwing tiny peas at Monkey. Then Crane remembers, Viper and he had a trip to make as well. "Viper, I think we should buy food before the trip." Viper nodded and went inside the market. "Po, are you getting anything?"

"I don't know, probably food. I'll wait for Tigress to wake up though, she'll probably pack better than I do." Crane nodded and left after Viper's tracks. Po didn't hear whatever Monkey and Mantis continued arguing about. His mind wasn't at ease, and neither was his stomach, not of hunger, but the opposite. He couldn't settle with what he had heard from Master Shifu talking to the other Masters. Although Tigress hadn't shown any indication of knowing what he was talking about. Po just wanted to be sure, her friend wasn't in any danger, or that she was a danger. During his contemplation, he didn't notice the mad look a rabbit had in its eyes as he ran past Po, neither did he noticed the crowd that follows behind said rabbit. At least not until they shoved him down.

"Woooah!" Po screamed as he fell. Both Mantis and Monkey stopped arguing and looked at the many animals running away from the North.

Monkey stopped one pig that didn't seem to concentrate in running away. "What's happening?"

Breathless the pig answer. "There's a fight between Master Wolf and Master Porcupine against a dozen of bandits. They told us to run."

Monkey turned to Po. "We should help them." Po nodded. "Mantis call for Viper and Crane tell them to meet us at the north entrance." Right after Po and Monkey ran towards the North entrance. Neither said about waking up Tigress, it was a mutual agreement, they didn't wish to disturb her sleep. "We can handle the situation." Monkey said encouraging.

As the neared the entrance, they finally saw the destruction and the peril in which both Masters were. Master Wolf was at the ground and barely able to stand while Master Porcupine stood unconsciously next to Master Wolf. Monkey threw himself at the two bandits that were about to attack the injured Masters. Po ran towards both Wolf and Porcupine.

"I can take you into the village," Po said as he went to carry Master Porcupine.

"No! You need to stop them, they are after us. They are part of the group that attacked and killed Master Weasel. We need to trap them and interrogate them about their leader." Po looked back at the fight, Monkey seems to be able to handle two or three, but the rest of them were escaping. In between decision making Crane swooped in followed by Viper and Mantis.

"What's the situation?" asked Mantis.

"We need to stop all of them from escaping into the woods." Po said.

"Escaping? Well, that's a first one. Normally baddies stick to the fight." Mantis said as he jumped into the action.

"Are you sure you'll be fine Masters?" Viper as always double checked.

"Yes, go... Please help us…, one of them might alert their leader." Master Porcupine answered as he was slowly regaining his consciousness. "I'll stay with him." Answered Master Wolf.

"Alright, let's go Viper." Po and Viper ran. Monkey had finished fighting the two bandits he started with, and as he saw his friends ran towards the rest, he followed suit.

If Po could say one thing, these bandits didn't look trained enough to be killers, most of them fell against Mantis quick fight reaction, and some didn't even put up a fight. However, none of them stopped running as if their urgency was to get away as fast as they could from the village. Crane updated his friends how many were left and how far were they, even if they didn't have any fighting skill, they definitely made it up with stamina.

"Where are they trying to go?" Mantis asked as he stood in Monkey's shoulder. None of the five had stopped running.

"They are trying to get to their leader!" said Viper as she catches up to one of the bandits. "Stop running!" she screamed, but the two remaining bandits continued in their path. They were slithery, as Viper got a hold of one of them, the bandit would do a flip in the air and throw Viper to a side. Of course, this kept happening, both bandits seem agile and more trained in acrobats than the rest. After several minutes of running after them, Po was starting to tire and fall behind, he looked at his friends who also were sweating by the effort. However, Crane had a plan ready to stop them in their tracks. He flew high up in the sky, and just as he did in the fight against Shen, he gathered strength in his wings and created an airwave that crashed into the bodies of the two remaining bandits.

"Got them!" Monkey grabbed both as they flew right towards him, from their clothes he stopped them and threw into the ground. The bandits gave out a groan. "That's it for you guys. This is the end of the trip." As he said this the bandits shook violently in fear.

"Please don't hurt us."

"We only got asked to distract you guys."

"They never said we would have to fight you."

"Or get killed by you."

"We chose wrong. Let us go."

Po came to the bandits. "Wait…, what? Aren't you part of the group that assassinated Master Weasel?" the bandits looked at each other., and then back at Po.

"Absolutely not. We are street performers. The amazing family of acrobats." Said one of the bandits…? Or performer?

"But Master Wolf and Master Porcupine said…" Viper said surprised.

"We know, we heard them said something like that to your flying friend and the panda, that's why we started running. We thought we were getting framed of murder."

"We aren't murderers. We promise." Both performers hugged each other, scared of whatever would happen next to them.

"Why would the Masters lie?" Viper asked as she moved to advise Monkey on letting the acrobats go. "We are sorry, we didn't know." As soon as they were let go, both acrobats ran as fast as before. As if they hadn't just run almost a mile.

"Something is wrong… Why would they lie to us and make us run after performers?" Mantis added into the conversation. "What could they gain?"

Indeed. Po thought. What could the Masters gain from this? From making them run away from the village. "How far are we from the village?"

"Maybe ten minutes?" Crane said as he came down from up in the skies. "It would take us another ten to get back."

Twenty minutes, maybe more, that's how long the Masters would have been without the Five in the village. Wait, the Five… It was only four and the Dragon Warrior, there was still one more member of the Five left behind. "Tigress!" Po exclaimed. All of them ran back into the village.

This wasn't good, he started to get more worried than before. His friend, all alone, tired, exhausted, and injured against two Masters. Whatever it was they wanted from her, they weren't about to leave her alone. Especially when she always showed them so much support, or at least most of it to him during their adventure at Gongmen City. His hardcore friend needed backup.

Just as Crane predicted, it took them ten minutes to get back. The view that greeted them wasn't welcoming. Roof houses were destroyed or smashed inwards. Street markets had their supplies and items were scattered around the long streets, some of them were completely broken, and others partially. Civilians from the village had a devastated look in their eyes. Po and the Five went to his dad restaurant.

"Dad!"

"Oh Po! You are here!" Mr. Ping ran towards his son. The store, as well as the house, were destroyed.

"Where's Tigress?" his father looked at him with a sadness he hadn't seen before. "What is it?"

"Tigress killed Master Porcupine."

"What!" all of Five exclaimed.

"The Master came into the house to talk to her, I told them she was asleep, and they insisted to wait for her to wake up in her room. Later I hear a noise and soon they busted downstairs. Tigress had Master Wolf by the throat until Master Porcupine intervened and then she…" Mr. Ping looked away for a second and went back to his story. "She continued to fight Master Wolf, after the incident. Master Shifu came down from the palace, he told something to her and she ran away."

"No…" was it true? Were Master Wolf and Master Porcupine saying the truth? Did they do that elaborate plan just so they could talk to Tigress without interference? Why had Tigress attacked them? She wasn't like that, not her friend.

Footsteps approached them from behind. "It must be a shocker, I know." Master Wolf said as he walked alongside Master Shifu. "It was for us as well, we didn't want to believe it. It seems our Master Tigress has succumbed to her instincts." Po and the Five turned to their Master.

"The Royal Guard has been alerted, and they probably will start to look for her." Master Shifu couldn't look at his students in the eye. Were tears forming around his eyes? Po couldn't tell.

"Because of the severity of her actions, the Royal Guard was advised to use extreme force, in the case of not being able to bring her down, they will use kill on sight as the last resource. I'm sorry for what has happened to your friend." Master Wolf turned to Master Shifu. "If you receive any information on her whereabouts, send a note. I must attend to Master Porcupine death ceremony." Without any more to add the Master left.

"Master Shifu? What are we to do?" Monkey asked.

Shifu rubbed his eyes in his robe and looked up at his students. "We need to find Tigress before the Royal Guard. You may still be able to talk to her. Villagers say they saw her ran into the west woods."

"Do we separate in groups?" Crane was a great tactician, and so he thought it could be a proper strategy to have.

"No. Stay together, if Tigress does get aggressive all of you combined can stop her. Go."

The Five nodded, all except Po. "Shifu… you really think she did it?"

"I… I don't know…" he didn't want to believe it. "Villagers saw her, and I can't understand why would she do it." His Tigress, gone like Tai Long? "I hope she had a reason. However, all evidence stacks against her."

"We'll find her, Master." Viper added in a whisper.

That same moment, The Five left the village in search of their lost leader.

I'm incredibly sorry, I guess that won't cut it. Right? Back when I started writing this, I had a plan but I couldn't place all the pieces together, and time passed, and I forgot. Until a couple of days ago when I rewatched Kung Fu Panda, and all came back to me.

I hope people will still read this. Otherwise, I'm just typing this to myself. Hopefully this long chapter serves as an apology. I'll be back with next chapter, in a couple of weeks. See ya in the next chapter.