Love of the Dragon Warrior

Fire and Oil

Shortly after Tigress left, Superintendent Woo and Ming, who had been wandering around the Jade Palace for "imperial decisiveness" showed up to take part of the lunch being served in the kitchen.

"Since when do you guys want to eat with us?" Po asked suspiciously. "You've been eating at Lord Kenshu's house for the past few weeks, or at one of those fancy restaurants outside the valley."

"Because it's rude," Superintendent Woo replied matter-of-factly. "We told Shifu we had to grace the presence of our generous host when we first came here and we had to take in the sights and sounds of our new home, so we couldn't possibly reject their invitation to eat with simple kung fu masters."

Shifu's ear twitched furiously, but he said nothing to communicate his clear offense at the comment.

"Besides, I want to at least spend some time with Po," Ming gushed, sitting next to the panda master who immediately winced. "I wouldn't want him to get lonely without our company."

The table gave each other knowing expressions while some of them flashed Po a look of sympathy before continuing to eat lunch. Lam gave the two surprise guests some food from whatever was left over on the stove while Shifu told his students to hurry up so that they could get to their training.

"I hope your students have prepared something special for the emperor's arrival," Superintendent Woo questioned as he poured himself some tea from one of the tea pots on the table. "They'll expect something magnificent."

"The Furious Five will be doing a presentation with a mythical set of weapons to demonstrate their growth of skills and strength," Shifu replied flatly. "The Dragon Warrior will take the lead-"

Jai-Rong quickly bit Ordai as she started to open her mouth, which resulted with Shifu being interrupted with a sudden and angry, "OW!"

"-and will demonstrate single-pawed how the weapons work. Afterwards there will be a brief sparring presentation and a good luncheon which I have planned in advance with some communication with the Emperor."

"Oh, I look forward to the cream puffs!" Ming said with a whimsical look crossing her face. "They're all the rage back home."

Seeing the look on Shifu's face, Snow Leopard said, "It's a shame you had to leave so early, Ming. I made some delightful ginger ice cream cream puffs the other week."

Ming looked at her strangely. "Were they any good?" she asked.

"Tell you what: I'll make you some to sample, and if you like them, I'll make extras for you when the imperial family gets here. Deal?"

Ming thought this over and immediately smiled. "Very well," she agreed. "I'm curious now."

"As am I," Superintendent Woo added. "You are a former Furious Five master, correct? I didn't realize masters knew how to bake."

"The Dragon Warrior knows how to bake," Shifu told him. "But you can ask her about that later this week. Right now, I need to get our training under way."

This indicated that any current masters not done eating needed to finish up and follow him out of the kitchen and into the training hall. As they were leaving, Destiny called out, "So when does Ella show up?"

A tense pause followed as Ming gave the teen rhino a hard look. "Ella?!" she snapped.

Shifu sighed. "Yes," he elaborated. "We just recently received a letter from King Murius of Madagascar informing us that, because of a previously arranged agreement, Ella will be staying at the Jade Palace for protection purposes until it safe for her and any civilians to return to the kingdom. She'll be arriving any time between today and tomorrow, so before the Emperor and his family show up."