The Ticking Contingent: The Countdown vo.2

Masters of Chi

Po and Li eventually made their way back to the main part of the panda village where they were overwhelmed with the smells and sights of food.
The masters, a little run down and worn out, were happily stuffing their face and relaxing at a couple of tables chatting with the other pandas in the village. Master Shifu was busily engaged in conversation with an older panda and Master Croc whom the masters hadn't seen in almost two years. Master Bear was busy engaging some children with how he confronted Kai, having to admit eventually that he had his chi stolen by Kai almost immediately, but boy could he make a not even one minute battle sound utterly epic!!! Po saw Tigress run after Lei-Lei who had a terrified Mantis in her paws and manage to convince her to put the poor master down. She then picked the little girl up and immediately walked back over to a group of panda while Viper, having tagged along out of concern for Mantis' safety, checked up on him to make sure he hadn't gotten whiplash.

Po and Li were eventually called over to a table where they sat down and immediately joined in the splendors of a late lunch. Mr. Ping was a little preoccupied with prepping his secret ingredient soup for everyone and passing it out, though he did give Po a tight hug while in passing and even patted Li on the back before going back to serving. Po felt a genuine feeling of relief wash over him and he took a deep breath and leaned forward to rest his arms and head on the table for a moment. Li complimented his relaxation form and squeezed his shoulder. Po didn't really respond to this. He just glanced around at the happy faces just as relieved and ecstatic that the danger was over and they could celebrate in peace, which they did for the rest of the day. The masters freed from Kai were not used to having a smorgasbord of food accessible to them, and by the end of the day were trying to hide from the pandas so that they didn't feel obligated to overstuff themselves with dumplings, bean buns, or some other concoction made for the occasion.

Li thought over Po's offer to move to the Valley of Peace for the remainder of the day, and by the following morning had decided to put the question to the pandas living in the village. He explained that Lord Shen, the whole reason they had evacuated, had been killed ages ago, and since they had just learned chi, it would be nice to move to the peaceful valley to continue their training. Some of the pandas were a little concerned about that since the mountains were all they had known and quite frankly, they hadn't had much trouble from outside attacks since moving. However, in light of the fact that the ambitious Kai had been able to find them, the truth at the end of the day was that there was no true safe place to hide from the world. So instead of hiding, they should prepare to face it head on. This convinced everyone that it would be good to leave, and so every panda in the village began to prepare for the long journey back to the Valley of Peace. Master Shifu was a little nervous about the influx of pandas, but Po assured him that there was plenty of space, and most of the pandas in the village were farmers so there wouldn't be much of a fuss. 

The journey back to the valley took about two weeks since there were a lot of pandas and most of them needed to stop and catch their breath as well as eat every couple of hours on the road. Li had no complaints since he knew it was quite a bit of a large group, and he preferred having a more pleasant move than the first time. During the journey home, one of the elderly pandas entertained the masters as well as the younger ones who had only known their peaceful mountain home about life before the mountains. They told about how they used to live along the river just a few miles from the open sea, how they were held in high honor by the royal family of Gongmen City for their loyalty and their ingenuity when it came to farming techniques. Li even inserted a comment or two about how his father, Po's grandfather, moved from Northern Myanmar to China as a young man and was employed as royal chef and taste tester in Gongmen City to ensure no one was poisoned. He served the royal family well for many years until he eventually met his wife and moved to the River Village and retired. However, he kept entertaining everyone with stories of working in the palace, including having to climb up and down the stairs every single day which always triggered asthma attacks, though he always tried brushing it off as if it was nothing. (Po just laughed and empathized on the pain, since he had to climb the same stairs before confronting Shen).