The Countdown

Prologue

Po quickly rolled across the floor of the boat, looking up as he heard the faint sounds of creaking coming from up ahead. He saw the cannon that had been blasted above his head slowly start falling towards the bottom of the boat. Shen did nothing but stand there as it fell, but Po, wanting to live to be able to see his friends and his dad again, immediately ran towards the water and lept with all of his might, the cannon falling on whatever was left of the gunpowder and blasting him farther into the sea. The masters, who were nearby, watched in suspense as well as boarded the boat in order to get out of the water. After a few seconds, Po finally emerged and grabbed onto a nearby board. He looked around at all of the citizens of Gongmen City cheering and exhaled, relieved that the battle was finally over. His eye caught a glimpse of someone besides him, and he turned his head to see Tigress reaching a paw out to him. The Dragon Warrior took it and was helped onto the boat.

"That," Tigress told him with a small smile. "was pretty hardcore."

Po smiled back and gave her a hug, thankful that she was ok after having taken the worst of the blows during the fight. Tigress didn't do anything; she merely stood there stiffly, not used to the feeling. The other masters, who were witnessing the hug, could only stand and stare in surprise. Crane was the most surprised, his mouth dropped open so much it was practically vertical. The two masters noticed that they were being observed and Po quickly moved Tigress over, breaking out of their hug. As the tiger master stood stifly in one spot, the rest of the five bounded over to embrace Po in a group hug. Shifu came over to the hugging masters and told Po, "Well, it seems you have found inner peace." He let out a small frown and added, "At such a young age."

"Well, I had a pretty good teacher," Po replied, scooping Shifu up into a hug. The red panda escaped it though and stood on a nearby pole on the pier. The masters looked up as they heard fireworks go off, some of them taking form as they erupted throughout the sky. Everyone watched the colors, the citizens cheering and the masters catching a breath from the intense fight that they had just been through. While they were doing that, Master Ox came up to Shifu and said, "We thank you for your assistance, Master Shifu. We might have still been in that cell with Gongmen City and all of China under Shen's rule."

"Helping you to defend Gongmen City is a duty we were happy to fulfill," Shifu answered him.

"You and your students may rest in a nearbye hotel," Ox told him. "And recover from the fight. Tomorrow, we'll send a boat to help you safely reach home."

"Thank you," Shifu said, bowing his head.

Po glanced over at the two masters, but then looked back at the fireworks, noticing after a minute that Tigress' paw was gently touching his back. A wave of surprise went through him, but then he went back to enjoying the moment with his friends, knowing that he owed his dad some relief once they got back.