Kung Fu Panda 4: Conquest

The Meeting

The Jade Palace

It was the beginning of a fine day, Master Shifu was meditating by the moon pool, and Tigress was in the training hall. Po was down in the village helping his dads with the restaurant. You see, after Kai's death, Li Shan wanted to spend more time with his son, as he is the only one left from his family. After several years without even knowing that his son was alive, he handed over the responsibility of the panda village to someone else and moved over to Mr. Ping. Mr. Ping was of course overjoyed and quickly agreed.
Nowadays they are good friends who get along very well. Po thought that was great.

Mr. Ping and Li Shan function a bit like Mr. Ping and Po did- before he became the Dragon Warrior, that is. Mr. Ping cooks, and Li Shan serves.
Po sat and thought about how far he had come in life, but still- it felt like something was missing. He doesn't know what it is either. Po got stuck in his thoughts though quickly came back to reality as Li waved a cloth in front of his eyes.
"Are you daydreaming?" Li asked happily.
"Oh, yeeeeah..." Po replied.
"It's chill, I do that too from time to time, it's just so easy to get caught up in the world of dreams."
"Mmm.."
Li noticed that it was no ordinary daydream, or dream, or whatever to call it. He walked over and put his paw on Po's shoulder.
"Is something wrong?" Li asked.
"Huh.? No, no no, I'm perfectly fine!" Po replied.
Li interpreted that as a no and began to smile.

"But I don't think so." Said Mr. Ping, who appeared behind both pandas in the kitchen.
"Huh, why is that?" Po asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm just saying I've known you long enough to know when you're lying or not." replied Ping.
"Oh sure, something's up." Po replied. There was no point in arguing with him.

"So, what's bothering you..?" Asked Ping.
"So, it's like, hard to explain."
Li walked over and started massaging Po's shoulders to calm him down.
"So, get over it, we're here." Li said.
Po felt a little better and mustered up enough courage to say so.
"I just feel that my life is absolutely awesome, but it's like something is missing. I was a student, I became the dragon warrior, made lots of friends, became close friends with the five, I have become a teacher, I have reached my ultimate goal. What's missing..?" Po asked himself, scratching his head.

Mr. Ping and Li Shan opened their eyes, they knew exactly what it was. However, Po didn't notice their wide eyes and continued to think.
Li nodded at Ping, who understood what he meant.
"You see, Po, we probably have a little idea what you mean, but we don't want to talk about it. The best thing for you would be to figure it out for yourself, you'll feel honored to finally figure it out." Ping explained.
"Huh? If you can't just tell me what it is, I won't have to worry about it." Po said, raising both arms.
"It may feel like it's impossible, but when it's done, it's not." Ping said walking up to Po and grabbing both of his hands and brought them together.
"Promise us not to give up on your thought, and get it done, you won't regret it." Ping said, giving Po a reassuring look.
"I promise."
"Good."

"But now, Po, get up and hurry up with the food, the customers need full bellies!" Ping said, quickly returning to what he was doing before.
Po looked at Li, who gave a glare.
"That's Ping, in a nutshell" Li said, returning to what he was doing.

Po finally finished the food and took off his apron. Then he heard a knock on the door next to the kitchen. It's definitely not Ping, he would've just opened the door.
He went to the door and opened it. There stood Viper.
"Hey Po, I just wanted to say that Master Shifu has called us to a meeting in about half an hour." Viper said giving Po a smile.
"Thanks Viper, I'll be up very soon." Po said, carefully closing the door.

"Hey, Dads! I gotta head up to the Jade Palace, see you later!" Po called out, putting on the new black and white robe he had in the spirit world, (yes he had succeeded getting the clothes over to the real world) and then he started his run up the thousand steps to the Jade Palace.
It took him about ten minutes until he finally came up. But there were about fifteen minutes left. What will he do with the remaining time?
Well, he goes to his room in the barracks. There he picks up his chi staff. On his way back, he meets Mantis.
"Hey, Po, you're coming to the meeting, aren't you?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm actually on my way there right now." Po replied.
"Good, I'll just head to the kitchen and eat some, I'm a little hungry." said Mantis, chuckling a little.
Po gave a smile and continued walking to the hall of heroes, where they were summoned.

Po reached the great gates of the Hall of Heroes and slowly opened them.
In there, Shifu was busy with a bunch of papers, and Tigress was sitting by the pool, meditating.
"Oh good, dragon warrior, I could use your help" Shifu said.
"Okay, what should I help you with? That paper? Or cleaning?" Po asked.
"The paper. This paper is very big, I can't manage to unfold the paper completely so I need your help."
"How come you can't get the paper up?" Po asked, grinning a little.
"Look." Shifu replied, trying to lay out the paper completely.
Then a gust of wind came through the opening to the right of the pool.
"The wind's making everything a mess, can you just help and I'll try to fix it."

Po nodded and went over to help.
Finally they managed to get it done and the paper lies flat on the floor.
"What is this even by the way? A map?" Po asked.
"Not just any, this is the fastest route to the Nam Binh Imperial City." Tigress said, interrupting her meditation.
"Oh, okay."
"Why is it here?" Po asked.
"You'll find out during the meeting, which starts in.. five minutes." Master Shifu replied.

After five minutes had passed, all six masters (Po and the Five) were lined up. Shifu stood in front by the large map.
"So, I've summoned you to a meeting."
"Any particular reason?" asked Crane.
"Emperor Zhao has died." Master Shifu replied.
Tigress didn't react as she had already been told by Shifu before Po entered.
"WHAT?! The loving and awesome Emperor Zhao, who invented gunpowder?!" Po asked desperately.
Master Shifu nodded.
"Empress Wixu has sent you on a mission to bring the bandits who killed Zhao to justice." Master said.
"Here, look at the map. This is the fastest way from the Valley of Peace to Nam Binh. Get there safely"

"Okay, Master." said the 6 masters bowing to Shifu.
"You better leave now, this is urgent. Witnesses have reported seeing bandits heading towards Haibei, a village not too far away."
"Take the map and go."

Po ran forward and took the map and folded it up.
Then the masters ran out, Po being the last out of the gate, before he was stopped by Shifu.
"Po, you were close to forgetting something." Shifu said, handing Po his straw hat.
"Now you show them what the dragon warrior is all about." Master said.
"I will." Po said, giving a smile.