The Ticking Contingent: The Countdown vo.2

Home sweet home!

As was to be expected, everyone was utterly relieved and excited to see Po once he emerged from the spirit realm. Mr. Ping was even excited to see Po flying, though this was short lived when the portal closed and Po found himself dropping hard onto the ground with a loud THUD! However, any pain was short lived the moment he saw both of his dads again. They were both just as happy to see him, engulfing him in a tight hug that only a concerned parent could give, and before long Po found himself engulfed in the hugs of his friends, now free from Kai's pendent, and so many pandas that Po lost count. The odd one out was, of course, Master Shifu. But this wasn't much of a surprise since he had already made it clear he wanted to maintain as much decorum and dignity as possible. Hugs were out of the question.

"Master Shifu!" Po cried happily, both relieved and excited to see him.

Shifu seemed to share the same expression, but kept himself more composed. "The student has truly become the teach-" he began, having noted the mass amount of panda power used to take down Kai. However, his thoughts were interrupted when he noticed what Po was carrying. "Wait, where did you get that?"

"Oh this?" Po asked, holding up his new staff. "Oogway gave it to me in the spirit realm."

Master Shifu sighed. He shouldn't have been surprised. He knew Master Oogway since he was a kid; he probably had some foresight of this and had expressed it in a phrase of wisdom he didn't understand. "Of course he did," Shifu muttered, more to himself.

"I think I mastered chi," Po noted, gently tapping the tip of the staff.

"Of course you did," the grandmaster muttered again. However, he was quick to recover from his usual grumpy observation and gave Po a pleading look. "Could you teach me?"

Po smiled in slight amusement, but he was quick to let Shifu know he would. Not that he thought it would be incredibly difficult. Shifu had already started getting the hang of mastering chi, as evident by him making an early spring flower bloom in full. Po didn't think it would take him that long to figure it out fully like everyone in the panda village had just done.

Of course on the other hand, now that Po was seriously thinking about it, Shifu did have a tendency to compare himself to others. Especially Oogway, whose shoes he had to fill for the past several years. So maybe that was why. And Shifu always liked doing things the hard way. So maybe that shouldn't have surprised Po very much.

Chi training would have to wait though. They had just defeated Kai, everyone was now safe and sound, and Po was honestly very hungry from the whole day's events, and he could use a break. Before he could even open his mouth and say anything though, Li called for a big celebration and for food to be made for everyone in honor of Kai's defeat and everyone learning to use chi. All the pandas in the village immediately dispersed, some of them taking the de-jombied masters with them and catching them up to speed on what had happened while they had been down for the count. Eventually, Po was left alone with Li and Mr. Ping, though the later decided to make his special ingredient noodle soup to celebrate the occasion and left Po with his father for the time being.

Po's stomach almost immediately growled, causing Li to laugh. "Same," he agreed. "I figured you were hungry. Thought we could all use a rest."

"How'd you guess?" Po asked with a smile.

"I'm your dad," Li answered immediately. "And we haven't eaten in almost an hour. I know I'm famished!"

Po just chuckled.

"While we're waiting," Li said, glancing at all the retreating villagers and guests. "Why don't we hang out by the lake? I need a moment to sit down."

Po agreed and soon he and Li had walked over to one of the small rivers running through the village. This river emptied out into a little wading pool of sorts beneath cluster of trees, which Po found out was his dad's favorite spot to visit during the night when he needed to relax. Po wasn't sure what it was about water that made it a good meditation spot, but all masters seemed to have come to that conclusion at some point in their lives. Even Shifu sat by the moon pool for hours without eating, though Po couldn't fathom how he managed it.