The Crimson Lotus

III. Furious Four

A month had passed since Tigress' sudden disappearance. It cut the group deep, leaving each person a wound which would take ages to heal.

Po though, suffered from this the most being the one who had grown the closest to her. He might still be happy around his friends and try to support them during these depressing times, but you could still tell he was suffering deep inside. Whenever someone talked to him, he seemed happy. Otherwise he resorted to himself most of the time. Viper tried to regain herself from all this sudden viciousness she had gotten since Tigress' disappearance. Most of the time it worked, but she would still ruin the training hall whenever she thought about her best friend too much.

Monkey and Mantis has repeatedly tried to cheer the group up, often succeeding but it wouldn't take too long until it got stale again.

Crane resorted to his calligraphy even more, expressing his emotions against the rough yellow-like paper.

Shifu kept his routines up, meditating and training his students even though he too had trouble recovering from the sudden loss.

Monkey had come up with a joke saying they should rename to Furious Four now that Tigress was gone, only earning a glare from Viper.

Crane spoke out about it saying it actually might not be that bad of a suggestion. It's after all been a month since she disappeared. And so it came to be, they officially renamed themselves from the ever long-lasting name Furious Five, to the Furious Four.

It took a while to get accustomed to, many people failed to say the Furious Four and it took many tries to finally get it right.

Po sat by himself in the kitchen by the table, slowly eating his bowl of noodle-soup. He sat and pondered over if she would ever return, but if she did, when? Po crammed a group of noodles in-between the chop-sticks and guided it into his mouth, some slipping out and into the bowl again.

The poor panda was so devastated that he barely had motivation to train anymore. He resorted to trust-eating which in it's turn caused him to gain more unnecessary weight.

The panda soon heard small footsteps and upon looking at the kitchen entrance, he spotted Master Mantis, standing by the frame.

"How are ya doing, big guy?" He asked, slowly crouching toward his friend.

Po sighed. "I miss her."

Mantis for once had a worried face and jumped onto the table. "We know. We all do." he said, standing by his bowl whilst covering his face from the noodles splashing back down into the bowl.

Po kept on eating, he didn't care anymore. He didn't care even trying to hide his painful face.

Mantis looked up at the panda. "Hey, the others are down by the valley, whatcha wanna do?"

Po gazed at the bug in front of him. "I don't know. Meditate?"

"You aren't even willing to train, huh?"

Po said nothing, instead he rose up and put his bowl aside on the kitchen counter.

"Well, where do ya wanna meditate then?" Mantis curiously asked.

"Dragon Grotto."

"Ah."

The duo walked up the mountains to the Dragon Grotto, their small trek was mostly quiet, but there was some small talk in-between.

They decided to sit down by the pond.

Mantis looked up at the panda. "You liked her, didn't you?" he asked, with no hint at banter or jokes or anything.

Po looked down at his tiny but social and nice friend.

*sigh* "yeah." Po replied and looked away into the distance.

Mantis face slowly turned into a smile. "We had a clue." he said.

"Wait you did? Was I seriously that obvious?" Po asked.

"Obvious and obvious..." Mantis started. "You are good at hiding it, Po. But judging from the way you clicked with her and spoke to her, managed to make her laugh and smile, get more ope-" "alright I get it, I get it." Po replied, cutting off Mantis. The bug kept his smile and lowered his pincers.

"All I'm tryna say is, you two connect with each other real good." Mantis finished and chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah." Po replied and smirked.

The two friends sat under the watchful gaze of the dragon in the roof, admiring the view.

"Po." Mantis started.

"Yeah?"

"Tigress is somewhere out there." He said and swiped with one of his pincers across their view.

"Yeah."

"She's most likely on her own."

"Mm hmm."

"She needs someone by her side. She might not know what she's looking for, she might be looking for answers about who she is, or for all I know she could even be starting a restaurant!" Mantis said and breathed deeply. "You are the only person who's managed to capture her heart. She's heading into unknown territory, she needs your help, Po."

Po looked at his friend, wise with his words and yet so sincere.

"Go out there and search for her. Make sure she's on the right track and bring some insight in who she really is, and the most important part, bring her back. You need her. She needs you. Find her. We will be waiting for you." Mantis said and shared the most sincere smile he had ever given Po in his life.

Po smiled and nodded. He surprised Mantis with a surprise hug, squeezing the life out of him. "Pooooo..." the bug wheezed. "Sorry." Po said and released him.

Mantis stood up and catched his breath. "Now what are ya *inhale* waiting for?"

Po smiled and took off, starting his search for Tigress.