The Ticking Contingent: The Countdown vo.2

Back to the beginning

The local constable wasn't very pleased with the idea of letting the mysterious thief go, especially since it took so long to catch the leader and she was known for being sneaky. However, Po trusted her to not pull anything and just asked that she be released into his care. The guard reluctantly obliged and Zhen was soon walking out of the station a free woman. Po was quick to group up with the Five and explain the situation, which got him even more suspicious looks and voices of concern and protest, but Po stuck to his promise and the Five were forced to comply. The first order of business was to find the thieving camp, which Zhen only took Tigress and Po to since she was still wary of the masters. True to her word, there were many families in the camp, all who were happily gorging on the food that the thieves had safely delivered to the camp a few days earlier. They even had the food stolen from Mr. Ping already prepared in a variety of steamed buns, soup, and one pan meals. (A real treat for the kids). Zhen explained the situation to everyone, promising that Master Po was not going to arrest them, and though there were some murmurings from a handful of thieves, there was some relief and excitement about having a normal life again. Tigress forewarned everyone that they would serve community sentences before going getting new jobs, just to make sure there were no thieving habits going on. However, Po promised that they would still be taken care of while going through that process. The giant thief clan was then led back to the Valley of Peace and settled by a collection of houses by Li and a few of the more kung fu experienced villagers. The captured thieves were also set free to this area, and once Li was briefed on what was going on, Po took Zhen and led her towards the stairs of the Jade Palace.

"Now, this has been around for hundreds of years," Po explained. "And it was kind of the only way to get into the Jade Palace. My old master told me he preferred it this way since it kept bandits out since the stairs are so hard to climb, but-"

Zhen let out a short laugh. "Please!" she mocked. "This is nothing! I could probably beat you up these steps!"

Before Po could say anything, Zhen had dashed quickly up the stairs and made it a quarter of the way up on less than a minute. Po blinked in surprise and simply walked over the the lift. There was no way he was going to catch up if he kept stopping to take breaths. And he had been doing that for years! Even the most experienced masters usually felt slightly breathless upon reaching the top, but it was necessary to put the Jade Palace high above ground, so a thousand steps it was. Of course, Zhen didn't have any problem with the stairs at first, but since she had never gone up such a steep slope before, she found it rather demanding on her body, and thus she became out of breath by the time she reached the halfway point of the stairs. The fox thief pressed on though, forcing herself up and up until she finally reached the gate. She let out a huge breath of relief and then ran into the doors, slamming them open and immediately crash landing onto the ground. She smiled in triumph and exhaustion, only to glance up and see Po sitting by one of the arena seats.

"Huh?!" she huffed in confusion.

"I was going to say that we installed a lift on the side of the mountain for people not used to the stairs, or people like me and my dad who have asthma...." Po explained. "Those stairs can really knock the wind out of you."

Zhen looked irritated, but she was more concerned with catching her breath from the climb. A few minutes later, a servant goose came by with a pitcher of water and some cups which Po had evidentially requested while waiting for Zhen. The Dragon Warrior handed Zhen some water which she quickly gulped down before going back to wheezing and tying to catch her breath.

"I have to say though," Po admitted. "I've never seen somebody go up so many stairs so quickly. You're definitely a natural for running uphill. Me, not so much."

Zhen smiled a little, but she was still heaving for air so she didn't say anything in reply. Po decided to hold off on the questions and just let her catch her breath before showing her around. When she finally did, Po told her he'd show her where she'd be sleeping while she trained alongside the Furious Five.