Year of the Goose

By corset-rebellion-follower

Disclaimer: I don't own Kung Fu Panda

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Chapter 1- A Special Visit

Mr. Ping ran up the steps to the Jade Palace, clutching a piece of paper in his wing. He wasn't even tired after having run all the way up from the bottom, in fact, he had more energy as he ran faster. He had to slow down to push open the heavy steel-fortified doors, but then he picked up the pace again.

"PO!" he called. "SON, WHERE ARE YOU?" He ran through the arena and up the rest of the stairs to the Hall of Warriors. "PO? ARE YOU IN HERE?" he yelled, sticking his head in through the door.

Po wasn't there, only Shifu, who was meditating. He jumped and looked back at the goose as he yelled. When Mr. Ping realized that it wasn't Po, he stopped yelling. "Oh, I'm sorry to disturb you, Shifu. I was just looking for my son. But it's lovely seeing you again." He disappeared from the doorway, leaving an agitated Shifu behind.

Mr. Ping ran to the bunkhouse and opened all the doors to the bedrooms, screaming his son's name. When he burst into Master Crane's room, Crane was startled and tipped over the jar of ink that he had been practicing his calligraphy with, splattering it everywhere.

"Oh, hello, Master Crane! It's wonderful to see you again. I'm just looking for Po, I hope I didn't disturb you. I'll just be on my way. By the way, beautiful calligraphy! I've never seen any symbol that just had ink in huge blotches on the paper before." And with that, he left. Crane sighed and stared down at his ruined calligraphy and spilled ink.

"I'll go get a mop."

Mr. Ping was getting a little annoyed at the fact that he couldn't find his son. But he was persistent. He checked the kitchen as he passed, where Master Monkey was on the top shelf, bringing down a certain jar.

"PO?"

Mr. Ping's yell caused Monkey to drop the jar. It smashed into a million pieces. Monkey pouted a little before hopping down to clean up the mess, grumbling about how he would have to bake more cookies.

As Mr. Ping continued his search for Po, he passed Mantis and Viper, who were washing Mantis's acupuncture needles in a bucket of water. The screeching made Mantis jump and two of the needles get thrown into the air, accidently getting stuck in Viper's back.

"OUCH!"

"Sorry, Viper!"

Mr. Ping thought of the last place Po could possibly be. He threw the doors to the training hall open. "PO? SON, ARE YOU HERE?" Suddenly, five training stars pinned him to the door, barely missing his limbs.

Tigress rushed over to him and started pulling out the stars. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Ping! You startled me," she apologized.

"Excellent shot, if I do say so myself," he said cheerfully as she pulled out the last star and he was able to relax his arms and legs.

"Thank you," Tigress said. A warm blush set across her cheeks at the complement.

"You're welcome, sweetheart. But I'm looking for my son. Have you seen him today?" Mr. Ping asked.

"He was in here a few minutes ago, training. If you can call it training," she told him, muttering the last part. They heard a groan coming from the other side of the hall. Po's arms and head appeared out of a large hole.

"I'm ok… I think." He hoisted the rest of himself out of the hole and walked up to the Adversary. "Just you wait! One of these days, I'm gonna get'cha! It may not be today, or tomorrow, or even next week! But some day…" he said menacingly, shaking his finger at the dummy.

"What do you know? Two dummies, right where I left them," Tigress said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Po!" Mr. Ping ran over to his son and gave him a big hug.

"Hey, dad! What're you doing here?" Po asked as he hugged his father back.

"That's what we'd like to know." Shifu, Crane, Mantis Monkey, and Viper were at the door, and they were all scowling. Crane had black ink covering his feet and Viper now had two bandages on her back.

"Oh, it's great news, son!" Mr. Ping said, uncrumpling the paper he still had in his wing.

"Really? What's going on?" Po asked.

"The World Championship Noodle-Off is going to take place in the Valley of Peace this year! I found a flyer for it this morning!" Mr. Ping handed the paper to Po.

"Wow, really?" Po asked, studying the flyer excitedly.

"What's the World Championship Noodle-Off?" Mantis asked.

"It's only THE biggest noodle cooking competition of the year! All the great noodle-cooking masters are there. We've never gone before because it's always been so far away, like in Beijing," Po explained.

"Not only that, but if you win, you get the honor of serving the Emperor of China a bowl of noodles! The prestige, the honor, the increased business! It's so much more than just a noodle contest!" Mr. Ping added, hopping from one foot to the other.

"Sounds like fun. Maybe we should go," Viper suggested.

"Are you kidding? You have to go! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" Po said.

"Kind of like getting blasted into the Jade Palace on a chair covered in fireworks and being named the Dragon Warrior?" Monkey asked.

Po scoffed. "Oh please, that pales in comparison to the Championship Noodle-Off!"

"Yes, well, as important as this sounds, I'm afraid we don't have time. We still have training to do, which includes you, Panda," Shifu said.

"Oh he won't have time for training. I'll need him down in my shop 24/7 to get ready for the Noodle-Off," Mr. Ping said.

"I'm sorry, but he can't waste time. He still has a long way to go in training before he can start slacking off," Shifu insisted.

"Master Shifu, come on! I'll probably never get to do this ever again!" Po begged, "And he's my dad! I have to compete!"

Shifu sighed. "I don't see anything wrong with letting him compete, Master. It's something he's really good at," Viper noted.

"And we'll get to see the Emperor of China!" Crane added.

"And get free noodles!" Mantis said excitedly.

Tigress crouched down to a still unconvinced Shifu. "And it'll get him out of our fur for at least a week," she whispered.

Shifu's eyes widened a little. "Panda, I've changed my mind. You can compete in you contest," he said, already imagining a Jade Palace without Po.

"ALRIGHT! Thank you so much, Master Shifu!" Po exclaimed, picking Shifu up and hugging him before dropping the red panda unceremoniously and beginning to dance around the training hall with his father.

A/N: I'm back! I promised I'd write more Kung Fu Panda stuff, so here it is! I'm trying really hard to come up with a threequel to Big or Little Ears? and A Reminder, for those who care. PM me if you have an idea! But anyway, I hope you liked the beginning! Holla!