The Ticking Contingent: The Countdown vo.2

On the road

"You're leaving?!" Mr. Ping cried when Po came down to say goodbye.

"I have to, dad," Po told him. "I have to figure out what this shape shifter lady wants and stop her from hurting anyone."

A flash from his vision came back clear into mind, causing him to freeze a bit and try to get it out of his head. Seeing the look on his face, Mr. Ping squeezed his son's face and asked, "Are you sure? You don't look sure. Maybe someone else should go."

"He'll be alright, Mr. Ping," Tigress promised, squeezing Po's shoulder. "He'll have Zhen with him and she knows that city like the back of her paw."

"And so do those officers who have me on all the wanted posters," Zhen piped up. "We'll be good."

Mr. Ping frowned, but relented and let Po's face go. The Dragon Warrior stood up with a sigh as Mr. Ping walked over to take care of a table and felt Tigress rub his shoulder. He turned to look at her.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

Po gave her a semi-believable smile. "Yeah, I'll be good," he promised. "I'll just put my thoughts and stuff aside and focus on the fact that I'm going somewhere totally new! I haven't been to a city since we went to take down Shen. A little too hectic for my tastes but man do they have good food!"

"I'm packing food!" Mr. Ping yelled over as he went into the restaurant to put dishes in the sink.

"I figured."

Tigress rested her paw between Po's shoulder blades and said, "You have a knot back here."

"I do-ooooohooohoohoohooohoo!!!!!OW!" Po cried as the master aggressively pushed her paw into his back and kneaded it for a second. When she stopped, Po rubbed the back of his neck and shook out his shoulders. "Actually, that does feel a lot better! Thanks, Tigress."

"You're welcome."

The sound of heavy footsteps were heard approaching the restaurant and soon Li arrived with a big basket of food. "Hey son!" he exclaimed happily. "I got you some stuff for the journey."

"Set it by the window so I can put it in the pack!" Me. Ping ordered.

As Li made his way into the restaurant, Po asked sternly, "You two aren't going to try and sneak along for the ride, are you?"

Li laughed. "As much as I would like to," he admitted. "I doubt I could get away with that."

"And I'm still recovering from the back problems I got from the last time I tried that," Mr. Ping remarked crankily.

Zhen eyed the bag that was sitting by the door, sniffing the air hungrily when Mr. Ping came out and plopped some boxes inside, as well as some fresh vegetables and a wooden tea set. He then attached a small cooking pot to the side.

"Don't you think that's a little much?" Mantis asked from the door frame, hopping onto Po's shoulder to avoid Lei-Lei's playfulness. "That might attract attention."

"I'm not letting him starve on a long trek to the city," Mr. Ping said firmly. "Besides, what if they have strange food and his poor little panda stomach can't handle it?"

Li laughed. "Don't worry, Xiang," he assured him. "We pandas can handle the crazy and mysterious of any food!"

"Last time you said that, you tried those foreign pepper poppers, drank two whole pots of tea to wash out the burn, and then threw up."

"Eh, I was having an off day."

Mr. Ping shook his head and walked over to Po with the pack.

"Thanks dad," Po said, heaving it onto his shoulder as Mantis hopped onto a nearby table. "We'll be back soon, I promise."

"Just as a reassurance," Zhen interrupted. "That's not all just for Po, is it? Because I might get peckish on the way there."

"Why do you think I packed a double extra large knapsack?"

Po hugged his dad goodbye and then Li before leaving the restaurant and waving to his friends. "See you guys soon! Good luck on finding Crane and Viper!"

"Good luck stopping the crazy lady!" Monkey called back.

Po and Zhen soon made their way past the bridges of the valley and on the road in the direction of the city. Since the Dragon Teacher didn't know where he was going, Zhen lead the way. She made it a point to tell Po about the different aspects of the city so that he wasn't overwhelmed when he got there or did something stupid. (Like holding up traffic). Po wasn't too unfamiliar with city life, but since Gongmen city had been overrun by wolves and was basically dysfunctional, he wasn't sure if that's what most cities were like.

"Well, I haven't been there in a few years," Zhen admitted. "So a lot might have changed. Fast paced city life, you know. But I know two things: watch your pockets and watch your head. Oh, and your feet. Sometimes the little guys put out knee high signs and the bigger guys trip and cause property damage and...trust me, you don't want that bill."

"I'll be careful," Po promised,

Zhen shrugged. "If you insist," she said.

The two walked past trees flowering and giving off the warm scents that only a summer's breeze can give, crossing more rivers that wound away from the valley, and even made their way up some steep terrain. (Which Po had to stop in the middle of since he had trouble with catching his breath). Altogether, it took about three days to cross the countryside and by the. Po's feet were exhausted, even with camping and eating dinner and resting for several hours past sunrise until Zhen was forced to wake him up by pushing him into a nearby river or throwing a tree branch on him. The last leg of the journey took them up a steep cliff which Po had to stop for when his asthma flared up. (The road was tremendously dusty). But soon the two reached a high vantage point and Zhen stopped and directed Po towards a giant city with high walls, colorful tents and infrastructure, and hills covered with houses and shops. Surrounding it was a giant bay as well as lush countryside off in the far distance which led to a forest and more hills beyond what they eye could see.

"Welcome to Juniper City," Zhen announced proudly.