Song was too terrified to defend herself, so it wound up being some of the women and the masters who had to try and get her to let go. 

"Tigress, stop! Let go of her!" Viper demanded, climbing up the master and moving to try and loosen her grip on Song. 

Ordai got in the middle as well in a desperate effort to keep the peace, but both her and Viper got knocked to the ground in a fit of rage. 

"Master Tigress!" came Shifu's voice as he got closer to the commotion. "Take a step back and refocus! She's not going anywhere!" 

Tigress snarled angrily, but complied and threw Song to the ground. 

"What on earth is going on?!" Po exclaimed as he and the boys quickly let go of the Dragon Warrior's shoulders so she could calm down. 

"Ask the little mole!" Tigress snapped. 

"Tigress, I understand this is incensing, but do control yourself, please. There is a time and place for forceful interrogation!" Shifu reprimanded as he finally reached the group. He heaved a big breath and added more to himself, "I'm getting too old for this." 

"Why should I be calm when she's clearly come here with her troupe to infiltrate the Jade Palace?!" Tigress snarled. 

"What?!" Song cried in bewilderment. 

"What are you talking about?!" Po asked. 

Tigress smashed the  piece of paper she had into Po's chest as her answer to the question, though thankfully it was only forceful enough to get him slightly winded. Po took it from her paws and read the words aloud. It was an urgent message to Shifu about a devastating raid in the northern province of China where all citizens were stripped penniless and the culprits had vanished without a trace. However, the witnesses were able to identify the thieves as none other than the Ladies of the Shade. 

"That's impossible!" Song protested. "My troupe's been reformed for years! They must have us confused for someone else." 

"The description of the thieves does describe the women disappearing by means of smoke clouds and parasols," Shifu elaborated as Po kept looking over the message. "It seems very much like your troupe." 

Song sat on the ground in stunned silence before shaking her head and getting up. "That's not right," she denied. "It can't be. I'm writing to Seia to figure this out." 

"Not so fast!" Tigress told her curtly, gripping the clouded leopard's shoulder tightly before she could go anywhere. "Po's ring has been missing and we just found out your troupe is still thieving. You really think we're going to let you go back to your room and try to hide any evidence?!"

"Excuse me?!" Song cried, a bit offended at this. "I think I've more than proven since I've been here that I am not a thief!" 

"Really? because every since you've been here, several of Po's items have gone missing. I don't find that to be a coincidence. Especially not after this!" 

"I wouldn't steal anything from Po! I didn't even realize he had a ring until after it went missing this morning!" 

Shifu whistled loudly to grab everyone's attention before the argument could escalate any further. "Song," he said firmly. "I understand this is distressing, but you have to consider the facts: Po's ring is missing, we just got a message that your troupe has gone rogue if indeed they were on the noble side beforehand, and you were a thief at one point. I don't think it would be too unreasonable to search your room just to make sure." 

"I don't have anything to hide, so go ahead," Song challenged irritably. 

"With all pleasure," Tigress volunteered, but Shifu stopped her, saying he would feel more comfortable with her keeping guard. 

"Plus it'll give you a moment to calm down," he elaborated. "You and I both know how you get when you're incensed at something." 

He then made his way to the barracks, asking Viper to accompany him on the way over. Tigress angrily stared in their direction before finally sighing and moving over towards the backwall to sit down and meditate. Song, glad the master was no longer casting fiery daggers down her neck, let out the breath she had been holding and sat down on the floor with a confused and bewildered look on her face. Po took another look at the message he held and sat down next to her. "Maybe it's someone who copied your team?" he suggested. 

"I hope so," Song sighed. "I just don't understand." She looked up at Po and added hopefully, "You know I wouldn't steal from you, right?"

"Of course I know that," Po assured her. He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder and just put the message down on the ground. The other members of the Furious Five picked it up to look over it and ponder over the situation but soon took to sitting awkwardly with the group which was now engulfed in a tense silence with barely audible chatter sprinkled in. Master Leopard walked over at one point to give Song a comforting pat on the shoulder, though this didn't do too much to help. Eventually, Shifu came back with Viper which caused everyone to become instantly alert. 

"Well?" Tigress asked suspiciously from the back. 

"She's clean," Viper promised. "Nothing of Po's is in that room and there's nothing suspicious laying around." 

"Thank you," Song said, getting up. "Now if you excuse me, I have an urgent letter to write." She then quickly ran off in the direction of the training hall leaving everyone to sit there and stare at the other. Tigress apologized for the intrusion and left the arena saying she needed to meditate in the training hall. Shifu followed suit saying he needed to write a reply to the Northern Province and Po decided to just call the activity quits for the moment, promising Ordai that they could try the painting session again another time. Ordai sighed but picked up her stuff and headed back to the barracks to put it away. Tai Lin, who was still busy searching the back of the barracks for Po's missing ring, asked her as she came in what on earth Viper and Shifu were searching people's rooms for and she was thus updated on the situation. Tai Lin admitted that she never considered Song to be a bad person anyway, so this outcome wasn't much of a surprise to her, though she was a bit startled to hear about the clouded leopard's criminal past. 

Because of the urgent message, Shifu had to send the Furious Five to the Northern Province to help track down the thieves and aid the villagers who were mercilessly robbed. They were gone for a few days, during which Song anxiously frequented the front gate hoping for a message to arrive from the troupe member she had left in charge. Eventually Seia got back to Song, explaining that shortly after Song left, one of the troupe members splintered off from the Ladies of the Shade and turned back to thievery, taking a little more than half of the troupe with her. Seia hadn't been sure about what to do, so she and the ladies who remained decided to lay low for the moment, which Song was relieved to hear. Song and Seia wrote back and forth for a bit with Song debating about whether or not she should drop from the contest and go back and try to fix everything, but Seia reminded her that, as the troupe's leader, she could offer the best representation at the Jade Palace for the masters not fully aware of the situation. Song agreed to this and after finally getting things settled and learning the whole story, told it to Master Shifu who thanked her for her cooperation despite the awkward situation. When the Furious Five returned a few days later, having managed to sort out the problem a bit and leave some security measures behind, Shifu elaborated to them about the current situation with the splintered troupe. Tigress naturally wasn't too trusting of the situation, but she promised Shifu she'd keep her suspicions to herself unless it was absolutely necessary to voice them. 

 The group of women who were in the contest offered Song consolation on the situation and promised her that things would turn out soon, which Song appreciated hearing considering the stress of the news. Master Leopard at one point offered a massage session for everyone since she felt it would be something to at the very least ease some of the physical stress knots Song might be feeling, and it'd be a good way to help everyone relax a bit from the chaos of the past few days. Song agreed and got to spend that afternoon just relaxing in her room with a massage session and having light conversation with the others, which helped a bit. But she admitted that she wished she had the power to completely fix the situation, which was not something she could do at the moment. 

One night, the Jade Palace was quiet with sleep as the guards watched over the darkness for any strange movements or noises. The Furious Five had been back for a few days and had tried to resume looking for Po's ring, but to no avail. Tigress kept her eyes peeled to Song, clearly looking for any signs of theft, but she kept her promise to Shifu and didn't say anything on the matter. Po didn't have the heart to tell his dad about what had happened to the ring since he was secretly hoping to find it before he had to break it to him. In the meantime he'd lay in bed, ponder over the matter, and then toss and turn restlessly until he had finally fallen asleep.  On this particular night however, Po's sleep was interrupted by the sound of the guards raising the alarm off in the distance. Startled, he quickly sat up with a start and immediately opened his door and ran outside to see what the commotion was. The Furious Five followed suit as did Leopard, Song, and Madame Zhou who hadn't quite fallen asleep yet.  Everyone made their way outside where they saw several guards running in the direction of the barracks. 

"What's going on?!" Tigress demanded. 

"There's an intruder in the Jade Palace!" the one guard told her as the other hurried and went to join the other guards. "They took out one of our men and they're moving fast through the forest by the lower mountain pass!" 

This was all the masters needed to hear before they had quickly joined in the search for the intruder. They could hear them noisily scampering through the trees, probably realizing they had been spotted and now were just desperate to escape. Tigress directed her friends to split up and use different routes to take the intruder down. Crane and Mantis went high, Monkey and Viper went through the trees, and Tigress and Po went low. Song offered to go with them, which Tigress was initially distrustful of, but was quick to relent and told her to come with her and Po. (Probably to keep an eye on her). Leopard offered to stay back and keep watch in case the intruder came back and Madame Zhou simply yawned and went back to bed. Master Shifu was busy consulting with the guard who was witness to the attack on his fellow comrade, but he welcomed the extra help when Leopard went to perch atop the Sacred Hall of Warriors. 

In the meantime, the masters followed the intruder through the forested outskirts of the valley and over various terrain. Crane tried to get a closer look at the fleeing figure, but they tossed a sword in his direction, forcing the master to drop back in terror. The sword eventually fell and started cutting through the trees, narrowly missing Monkey and Viper who had been trying to avoid the other items thrown during the intruder's vicious serpentine.  Po, Tigress, and Song ran evasively through the forests and managed to track the intruder to the base of the mountain where the river cut through the valley and made its way out to the lake just a few miles away. However, when they finally got to the open water, they heard a giant splash from up ahead and then the night was silent once more. 

"Seriously?!" Po cried as he stumbled just short of the water. 

"They're not getting away that fast!" Song insisted. She took a quick glance at the water before quietly diving into it. The way she angled her body told the masters the water wasn't too deep, so Po gingerly stepped in the water himself and found it to be about waist high. 

"That's cold!" he squeaked. 

Tigress just sighed. "If we want to catch them, let's try scouting ahead to see if we can intercept him. Or her," she directed. "Let the others know when they catch up." 

She then darted ahead and Po just made his way to the other side of the river and climbed out. The water moved a little fast, but not so much that it was dangerous to be stuck in the middle. Po wondered if it would help the intruder get away faster. That was a bit concerning. Just as he got out of the water, the Furious Five showed up and Po relayed the directions that Tigress had given him and everyone quickly made their way down the river. They followed along the river looking at the water and trying to find the shadow of the figure. As some point, Crane made a dive towards the water thinking he had found him, but Po tried to quickly explain it was Song. It was too late. 

"Hey!" Song cried. "What are you doing?!" 

"What are you doing in the water?!" Crane asked in surprise. 

"Trying to help!" She sighed as Crane let her go. "Not that it did any good. I think whoever that was is long gone. I didn't see anyone and I think I swam pretty fast." 

A sudden loud splash got everyone's attention and everyone looked far down the river to see ripples spreading out across the water. Song quickly dove under the water and started to swim over and the rest of the masters followed suit. A few seconds later Tigress came up for air coughing on the water and spitting out mud she had accidentally swallowed. 

"Tigress are you okay?!" Po called over, jumping in the water and following Song over to Tigress

"I HAD them!" the Dragon Warrior snarled. "And I'm pretty sure they had a bag on them too!" 

"Well, looks like we found our thief," Mantis noted.

"I'll try to get an aerial view," Crane offered, quickly moving over the river. "Maybe I can catch them before they get out." 

"Whoever this is must be a real good swimmer," Song noted as she reached Tigress. "They've been under the water for almost three minutes." She dove back under in a fruitless attempt to catch the figure, but upon resurfacing realized Crane and the mysterious shadow would be too far away to swim after. Viper craned her neck over the water in an effort to try and see the figure under the water, but the moonlight reflected off of something else which caught her attention. 

"What's that there in the water?" she asked, pointing to something gently floating about between the laps of water.

"Where?!" Po asked excitedly, slowly bumbling forward in the water until he tripped. 

"Well don't move!" Monkey exclaimed, slowly getting in the water and shivering. "If you move that fast we'll lose it!" 

"It was something shiny, but I can't see it now," Viper told them, trying to look around the water. 

It got quiet for a moment minus for when Crane came back and informed them that the figure had vanished. As he asked everyone what they were looking for, Tigress suddenly called over to Song that the object was over by her. (And also forewarned her to not pocket the object). After a brief eyeroll and gently diving underwater so it didn't move away again, Song came up for air holding a small object.

"A ring?" she observed. 

Po immediately bounded over to her through the water and looked at the ring. Even with the moonlight it was still a bit dark, but he was still able to make out the beautiful golden designs along the edge. 

"My ring!" he cried happily, taking it from Song. "Oh thank goodness! Dad's not going to kill me!" 

He gave Song a hug, only for Tigress to call over to not celebrate just yet. 

"You still have stuff missing," she reminded him. "And obviously this person knows where to look for valuables." She went back to the shore and told her friends she'd be filing the report to Shifu before disappearing in the dark. 

Po just sighed and headed back to the shore as well with Song following close behind. 

"I'm glad you at least got your ring back," Viper told Po with a relieved smile. "We should probably put that somewhere safe in case this thief comes back for it." 

"Maybe Shifu could hide it?" Mantis suggested. 

"Yeah, I don't think that's such a great idea," Crane told him. "Most times the Sacred Hall of Warriors is the first place someone would look for valuables." 

"I didn't say hide it in the Sacred Hall of Warriors. I said let Shifu hide it. I'm sure he's had enough experiences with thievery to know where to hide stuff." 

"I'll figure that out when I get back," Po said. "For now I just want some sleep." 

The group then made their way back to the Jade Palace and briefly stopped to check in with Shifu who had already been told by Tigress about what had happened. He told the masters to get some sleep since he was going to have them help figure out how the thief broke into the Jade Palace and possibly even identify who it could have possibly been. (He excluded Po from this since he didn't want the contest to be disturbed any further nor for anyone to feel alarmed when his students could obviously handle the matter). The Five, Po, and Song then said goodnight and finally headed off to bed to rest themselves for the following day.