Po and Ella left the underground dance room sometime after noon and made their way back to the Jade Palace. Ella was still a bit unnerved by the mysterious shadowy figure in the trees and thus opted out of her original idea of eating at a restaurant with Po.

"Best to limit social activities to necessities until these guards take care of the problem," she told Po matter-of-factly as they started up the stairs of the Jade Palace. "But we'll have to do this again once everything is settled."

The two eventually made their way up the stairs with Po being forced to carry Ella when she got too tired. Once they got to the top, Ella left to freshen up and change clothes while Po collapsed in a heap by the door and tried to get his breath back. He was very glad Shifu had never had him carry anything up the stairs when he trained at the Jade Palace. Going up the stairs was difficult enough as it was for him; he couldn't imagine carrying extra weight on top of that. One would have thought he'd be used to it by now, but Po was coming to the conclusion that stairs were forever going to be his enemy. He sat there for a little bit trying to catch his breath and eventually got back the energy to stand up and make his way to the kitchen. To his surprise, he was greeted by Jai-Rong chopping up different vegetables and throwing them into a pan with some noodles. Some of the girls had also arrived early for lunch and were busy quietly chatting at the table, though they turned to greet Po when he showed up.

"Hey, you're okay!" Lu-Shi exclaimed happily. "I was expecting a look of utter boredom or utter despair!"

"I was expecting him to look pretty wan," Ordai jumped in.

"Nah, I'm alright," Po promised. "It was a very weird...very weird...morning. But..." Po paused, thought, and just shrugged and sighed. "Yeah, weird. That's the best way I can describe it."

He sat down at the table and asked if anyone had gone down to check on Lam since it was clear she hadn't yet returned to the Jade Palace.

"We don't even know where Lam is," Ordai told him. "Otherwise Ming wouldn't be lingering around the barracks waiting to get her apology."

Po's face fell. "She's in the barracks?" he asked.

"She went in this morning to wait for Lam to come back, and she took a book with her to camp out in front of the door," Jai-Rong told him from the stove. "Master Snow Leopard went to the barracks an hour ago to grab a game to play with Kay and she was still there, so....she's pretty serious."

Po sighed. "I'll make a note of that," he said, though this was more to himself.

"Have you seen Lam?" Ordai asked curiously.

"Yeah. I passed her and dad while Ella and I were out today. I didn't really get to say hi though. We got chased by a creepy mystery guy."

"What?!" everyone exclaimed.

"Didn't you catch him?!" Lu-Shi asked. "Was he ugly?!"

"We don't know who it is," Po explained. "Whoever it is, they're really sneaky. I didn't even realize he was following us until Ella pointed it out."

Ordai laughed. "Really?" she asked with an incredulous look on her face. "Ella tracked down a bad guy?"

"Surprisingly yeah. I told you it was a weird morning. Apparently Ella's really good at tricking bad guys into traps. She threw a water filled tea pot at him so one of the guards could track him down."

"Get out of here! Really?!" Lu-Shi exclaimed in shock.

Jai-Rong moved the pan off the hot stove and began dishing out bowls. "Well good for her, I guess. I wouldn't have guessed that based on how she acts. I thought she was more lazy. Of course, I guess it's not fair to make judgments since she hasn't been here that long," she noted.

"Well, she definitely has a bad attitude," Po admitted. "But she's surprising, I'll give her that. And the morning wasn't a total bust. I actually had fun for a little while."

Lu-Shi looked very surprised, but she shrugged and sat up a bit in her chair as Jai-Rong served lunch. "Well, at least it wasn't a bad morning," she said.

"Yeah, no kidding."

The kitchen floorboards squeaked and Tai Lin and Destiny walked into the kitchen.

"It smells good in here," Tai Lin noted as they sat down at the table. "Thanks, Jai-Rong."

"Happy to help!" Jai-Rong told her. "I'm not as fancy as Po or Lam, but I hope you still like it."

"Where is Lam?" Destiny asked with a worried expression on her face. "She still isn't back and Ming's not in the barracks anymore and I really don't want the emperor to arrest her!"

"Wait, Ming left her bunker?" Lu-Shi joked. "I guess even she got bored being indoors all day."

"She shouldn't be bothering Lam, Destiny," Po assured the young rhino. "I saw her this morning with dad, and I'm guessing that if she hasn't come back, then she's still down there. I can check on them after lunch to see what's going on."

"Ooh! Yes! I can go with you! I don't like Ming lingering around here. It makes me nervous."

"Is Superintendent Wu still up here?" Po asked.

"No, he went to join the emperor for some conference about laws," Tai Lin told him.

"And the Furious Five and Master Shifu I think are still training," Jai-Rong added as she sat down to eat. "So it's just us up here for the time being."

"Ah. Gotcha."

Po relaxed a little with the idea that the usual annoying people were out of the way, though he was quickly reminded of Ella's presence when she waltzed into the kitchen in a new outfit and sat down to eat with everyone. She immediately started to brag about how much fun she had with Po during the day and what they did, but Lu-Shi, always interested in a little action, began to question her about the presence of the mysterious shadow man and how she managed to trick him single hooved. Ella of course was more than happy to be flattered and went on a long spiel about how she learned to always be wary of suspicious people and how her father taught her to entrap people and how her mother taught her how to manipulate without getting manipulated back. She trusted that the guards would be competent enough to catch the stalker and to figure out what he wanted and whether or not he was working alone, especially since he seemed interested in following Po which was cause for concern.

Destiny immediately began to speculate on the stalker being an old enemy of Po's, though the master quickly reminded her that all of the enemies he fought were either reformed or dead, so that wasn't an option.

"Really?" Ella asked, confused. "Ming told me Tai Lung was wandering around having a romantic rendezvous with Tai Lin, and I know he was a pretty big bad enemy."

"Oh for goodness sake-!" Tai Lin started irritably.

"I don't know who started that rumor," Po told Ella. "But Tai Lung is definitely dead."

"Yeah, he taught her some self-defense moves against her crazy ex-boyfriend, but they don't know each other that well," Destiny filled in. She turned to Tai Lin and said, "I still think that's weird! Why teach you chi moves when he was on his way to trample Po?"

Tai Lin shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. "I just accepted what he told me about his ex-girlfriend and figured it was just a brief moment of empathy."

Ella looked at Tai Lin with a strange look crossing her face. "You have an ex-boyfriend?" she asked.

"Yes....and he's nuts."

Destiny slammed her tea down on the table with a loud gasp. "What if what's-his-name-crazy-guy was the one stalking Po this morning because he was mad you two were dating?!"

"Xiaobo doesn't really know kung fu," Tai Lin elaborated. "I doubt he could outwit Po." She paused to think for a second, then added, "Though then again...he is very good at sneaking up on me....." She shuddered and went back to her lunch. "Let's switch subject."

"Not so fast. I want to hear about this crazy ex of yours," Ella said curiously, leaning forward and resting her chin on her folded paws.

She then began to ask a whole bunch of prodding questions about the ex and seemed very disturbed by his obsession with Tai Lin after just one date and her refusal to go on a second one. Eventually the rest of the girls came into the kitchen to eat lunch, except for Madame Zhou who was most likely still investigating the start of all the rumors in the valley. Po was quick to wrap up on lunch so that he could check on Lam. He asked Tai Lin if she wanted to go, mostly in case she wanted to get away from Ella's questions, but Tai Lin was perfectly fine to sit and talk so Destiny wound up being the only one who accompanied Po down to the valley of peace. All the streets were bustling as villagers quickly went here and there to eat at one of the restaurants or local cafés. Po and Destiny made their way through the crowd until they got to Mr. Ping's where they were greeted by the old goose and Lam, who clearly was in a much better mood.

"Hey Po! Hey Destiny!" she called out, serving a customer some soup.

"You're okay!" Destiny exclaimed happily. "I thought the emperor might have gotten to you!"

Lam let out a short laugh. "Don't worry about me; I'm fine." she promised. "I've just been taking a little bit of time to calm down. Ming really wound me up yesterday. I suppose I owe her an apology for threatening to whack her in the face."

"Yeah...." Po said. "I'd...just be mentally prepared because Ming's still pretty mad."

"Figures."

"I wonder where she went," Destiny wondered aloud. "She was camped in front of the barracks the whole morning and then just suddenly left. I thought she was coming in for lunch but we didn't see her."

"I'll find her later. I promised Ping I'd try a new lunch recipe he wants to advertise and we won't get the chance to sample until the swing hours."

"The whodawhat?"

"Mid-afternoon," Po explained. "It's the calm before the dinner storm."

"Ah!"

"Perhaps you'd like to help us, son?" Mr. Ping asked hopefully. "We could always use more help."

"Sure! You want to help Destiny?"

Destiny frowned. "Um...I don't think I'll be much help," she admitted. "But I don't mind sitting at a table and hanging out if that's okay."

"That works too."

Po quickly stepped into the kitchen and was immediately given the task of prepping more tofu for the stir fry Mr. Ping needed to make. Destiny sat down at a table right in front of the restaurant and began to ask Lam a bunch of questions, like if she had come back up to the Jade Palace at all and where she had eaten and if she had any ideas on what she had wanted to do with Po when she came back and had she seen a hide or hair of Tai Lin's psychopathic ex. Lam told her and Po that Mr. Ping had offered for her to sleep in Po's room until she was fully calmed down and eat with him on the condition that she helped out at the restaurant in the meantime. She hadn't seen Xiaobo anywhere. Mr. Ping had, but that was the other day and it was just a glimpse. Po was just relieved that he hadn't gotten anywhere near Tai Lin.

"What exactly are you going to do about that?" Mr. Ping asked curiously. "I don't like people lurking in the bushes. It's creepy."

"The guards are supposed to take him in for questioning, but he keeps slipping out of sight," Po explained. "I guess all the years of stalking Tai Lin made him really good at that."

"Well I can tell you this," Lam offered with a frown and a splash of venom in her voice. "If ever I ever see that man, you can guarantee I will be pinning him to the ground!"

"With what?" Mr. Ping asked matter-of-factly.

Lam thought for a second. "No idea," she admitted. "I'll figure out as I go along."

Po laughed. "Well, if ever you do let me know so I can help," he told her.

They kept working in the kitchen until the rush of customers faded out to a trickle and left the three in the kitchen more time to talk and make more spare food. Mr. Ping immediately got to work with making his new recipe which turned out to be a dumpling which was loaded with radishes, hot garlic sauce, bok choy, eggplants, and cucumbers and served with a sweet and creamy dipping sauce. Mr. Ping was making it in honor of Po's victory at gongmen city and decided to make it a series if it proved successful. He was going to call it the Yin and Yang Fireball.

"I wanted to make it earlier and name it Dragon Warrior's Fury," Mr. Ping explained. "But then you retired that year and I figured with Master Tigress as Dragon Warrior, it was a little inappropriate...."

"Does Tigress have a food named after her?" Destiny asked curiously.

"Sort of. I have the Noodles of Fury after all of the Furious Five.....That's a seasonal special though since the ingredients can't be harvested until early in spring...."

Once Mr. Ping was done making his special new food, he took a couple of bites before declaring it his masterpiece and allowing Po and Lam to have some. Destiny was initially excluded from this, but she had quickly bribed her potential father-in-law with a huge tip, which got Mr. Ping's permission. Destiny turned out to love it so much that she offered to by a bowl right there on the spot which Mr. Ping agreed to. Once she was done, the three finally started to leave the restaurant, waving goodbye to Mr. Ping and promising to visit again soon. They then began to head through the village and up the Jade Palace stairs.

"I suppose I should go and look for Ming," Lam said when they reached the top, bracing herself for the fury of words that would be spat at her.

"Try the barracks, and if not, maybe hang around the kitchen to see if she'll show up for dinner," Po suggested. "I don't think she's left the Jade Palace, but I don't really know where she could have gone aside from those two places."

"Ooh, Master Snow Leopard!" Destiny called over, spotting her from far across the grounds. "Master Snow Leopard, have you seen Ming?!"

"She went back over to the barracks about an hour ago," Leopard answered. She looked at the three in confusion. "You haven't seen her?"

"No, why?" Po asked.

"Well, she looked like she was in a better mood, so I thought maybe she got her apology from Lam."

"I haven't seen her since we had that argument," Lam said.

"Oh. Hmm...well, be wary I guess. Not that I should be making judgments on Ming, but usually the only time I've seen her happy is when she's gotten her own way with something."

"I'll keep that in min-" Lam started, but was interrupted with a loud scream of "STOP!!!! GIVE IT BACK!!!!!!"

Po and Leopard immediately ran in the direction of the commotion with Destiny and Lam following close behind. It had been off in the far distance so it took a bit of running to cross the grounds and make their way all the way over there. As it turned out, the sound had come from the base of the Wu Dan mountains, which would soon travel into the mountains themselves. The yelling and desperate screaming was at first difficult to make out, but upon getting closer and closer, the four realized one of the voices was Tai Lin. And considering everything that had been going on lately, they had a very bad feeling about who the other voice was.

Po could feel his lungs start to burn from the running, but he kept right on running until he had finally reached the top of the mountain's path. Lam and Destiny were farther back on the path, though this was understandable considering the fact that they weren't used to running and were not nearly as fast as Po and Leopard who, after taking a second to catch their breath, immediately moved through the Wu Dan mountains to find Tai Lin. Po was tempted to call out her name but worried that the offending party would make a break for it. By this point, Tai Lin's pleas of terror could be clearly heard, as well as the angry protests of the offending party and Snow Leopard and Po quickly and quietly followed the sounds to find the two.

"I'm trying to be so patient with you, Xiao-Yang," the male voice was saying firmly with clear hints of anger hidden beneath it. "But you're really forcing my paw on this. You promised me and you are not backing out of this!"

"I didn't promise anything!!!! When did the words, 'Yes Xiaobo, I will marry you' ever come out of my mouth?!"

"Just now."

"THAT DOESN'T COUNT YOU EVIL BASTA-AAAAOOWWWWW!!!!"

"We both have permission, we're both young, healthy, and attractive people, and I will make sure you never want for anything in your life."

"Money is not what I want! Give me back my choker!"

"Say I do!!!"

"Xiaobo, please!!!!"

Po and Leopard finally reached the two, keeping behind one of the towering stone faces on the mountain to analyze the scene. Xiaobo, who Po was finally getting a good look at, was about Tai Lin's height with long tuffs of fur around his ears and most likely down the back of his head. He wore a strange outfit that almost seemed like a mix between a hanfu and a coat. It was a tight dark blue robe-like outfit with the top hanging just slightly over a large brown wrap in the middle. He also wore heavy black boots and had a very irritated expression on his face. Po also noticed that he was holding Tai Lin's choker in one paw and dangling it over the edge of the mountains, threatening to drop it into the trees or the river far below the mountains. His other paw was gripping Tai Lin's shirt collar in an attempt to keep her from grabbing her property back.

Po glanced around and suddenly looked back at the small path behind them. It could take him around their stone wall and right next to Xiaobo so that he could get the choker back. Of course, Xiaobo might notice him and then drop it anyway....

Po nudged Leopard and mouthed to her, "Distract him."

Leopard nodded and quickly went over to the two as Po made his way around the mountain pass. "How on earth did you get in here, you slippery, delusional perpetrator?" she demanded.

Po couldn't see Tai Lin's face, but he could hear her sound slightly relieved as she called out to Leopard for help.

"Look, lady, we're in the middle of a private conversation!" Xiaobo snapped. "Now scram!"

"I don't think so," Leopard told him. "You're banned from seeing Tai Lin because of your aggressive stalking tendencies. You really think I'm going to leave you two alone?!"

"My future wife and I are working out our differences and they don't require an audience!"

"He had my choker and he's threatening to throw it into oblivion unless I marry him!" Tai Lin cried.

"We heard. He won't get away with threatening you or stealing your property."

"I'm sorry...we?" Xiaobo repeated, but by this point Po had finally reached him and quickly ran forward and tackled Xiaobo, yanking the choker out of his paws and standing up to give it back to Tai Lin. Xiaobo was stunned for a second, but then quickly stood up and grabbed Po before he got to Tai Lin and yanked him back to the edge of the cliff.

"PO!!!!" Leopard and Tai Lin screamed and both ran over to grab him before he went toppling over the edge.

Once Po was safely back on solid ground and has caught his breath from the near-death experience he had, he handed Tai Lin her choker back, saying, "The next person who starts taking personal family items isn't going to live long enough to say uh oh."

Tai Lin hugged him. "I'm just glad you're alright!" she told him. "At that point, I'd rather have you alive over getting my choker back."

"Aww...thanks," Po said, smiling at the compliment and squeezing Tai Lin back.

"I hate to cut this short," Leopard told them. "But Xiaobo is gone."

Tai Lin groaned. "Not again...." she sighed.

"How on earth did he even get into the Jade Palace?" Po asked with a perplexed look on his face. "The guards were everywhere!"

"I don't know, but I'm going to ask so someone can go and get him," Leopard told him. "Let's all go together in case he's still sneaking around here."

They began to walk back across the grassy area of the Wu Dan mountains to go get a guard, Po walking a little slow so that Tai Lin could catch her breath. She was shaking a little and was tightly holding onto her mother's choker. Po gently took it from her paw and put it back around her neck which earned him a very tight and loving arm hug from the snow leopard. Po didn't mind too much though and returned it as they headed out of the mountains and back to the main area of the Jade Palace.