Y/N slept soundly in bed. Despite playing video games late last night, he was surprisingly able to get a good night's sleep. He was enjoying his sleep, until a smell hit his nose. It made him stir awake with a smack of his lips.

"Kids, breakfast is ready!" Y/N heard his mom call from the kitchen. He recognized the smell.

"Congee. Porridge," Y/N muttered before getting out of bed, "If mom's the one making it, it probably tastes bland."

He didn't think his mom was a bad cook, he just preferred when his dad did it... or himself. If the porridge did taste bland, he'd just put in some butter with a little sugar, or salt and pepper. It all depends on what was used to make it. Before he ate breakfast though, he had to do his business in the bathroom.

Y/N stepped into the hallway. That's when he heard the door to Mei's room open as well. While the twins did get along most of the time, they still fought occasionally. Being the first to use the bathroom was no exception. Usually, it ended with Y/N coming out on top by tripping Mei by sweeping under her feet. This time though, it would play out differently.

What Y/N saw made his eyes widen and his jaw drop. Out of his sister's room came a large creature with red fur and ringed tail. It was a giant red panda. Y/N watched as it went into the bathroom. There were only two explanations for this. Either the panda ate his sister, or...

"AHH!" Mei's voice screamed from inside the bathroom. Yeah, the panda is his sister.

Ming walked past Y/N, giving the bathroom door a light knock.

"Mei-Mei, is everything ok?" Ming asked.

"Don't come in here!" they heard Mei say on the other side.

"What's going on, honey? Are you sick? Is it a fever? Stomachache? Chills? Constipation?" Ming asked with concern.

"Geez, Mom..." Y/N muttered, cringing a bit.

"Wait. Is it... that?" Ming asked with dread, Jin stopping in his tracks as he slowly backed away, "Did... Did the red peony bloom?" she asked.

"No! ...Maybe?" Mei replied, sounding unsure.

Ming gasped, "But it's too soon..." she muttered, "Don't worry, Mei-Mei. I'll get everything you need. Mommy's here," she said as she ran into the master bedroom, "Jin! It's happening!"

Y/N stepped into Mei's room. He knew she'd go straight in here once the coast was clear. That and he didn't want to overhear the conversation Mei would have with their mom about... monthly female body experiences. Y/N leaned against Mei's closet door with his arms folded. After a few minutes, Mei came bursting in, panting heavily.

"Rough morning, sis?" Y/N asked playfully.

"You have no idea!" Mei replied, "I'll just go to sleep, and when I wake up, this will all be over."

"This isn't a dream, Mei," Y/N said, "Look, you just need to stay calm. Relax," he told her, taking her furry paws into his hands, "Just repeat after me. Breath in..." he inhaled through his nose, "Breath out..." he exhaled through his mouth.

Mei repeated her brother's actions, breathing in and out slowly. After a few times, Mei's panda ears vanished, followed by her tail. She repeated the process again and, in a huge puff of pink smoke, Mei returned to her human form.

"Yes!" Mei cheered happily... only to forcefully change back into her panda form, "No!" she groaned.

"Mei..." Y/N put his hands together like he was praying, silently telling her what to do. Mei repeated the gesture and the breathing technique.

"I'm calm. Zen..." Mei exhaled. In another puff of pink smoke, Mei returned to her human form again, "Yes!" she said in a quiet tone. She then threw her arms around her brother, "Thanks, Y/N-Y/N!"

"Anytime," Y/N said, returning the hug.

After a minute, the twins broke their little embrace. Y/N looked at Mei's hair and couldn't help but snicker.

"What's so funny?" Mei raised an eyebrow.

"Take a look in the mirror," Y/N said, turning his sister towards her full-body mirror. Mei winced upon seeing her hair which was now red, "Personally, I think it's an improvement. You look good with red hair."

"Ok, I've got this. Like you said, I just need to stay calm," Mei said, "You've got to have my back though. You'll have my back, won't you? Promise me you'll have my back," she looked at her brother.

"Mei, you should know by now. I've always got your back," Y/N said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Mei pulled her brother in for another hug, this time kissing his cheek and then smooshing her own cheek against his.

Lester B. Middle School...

Ming pulled up in front of the school, Mei riding in shotgun while Y/N rode in the back seat. Mei wore a beanie to cover her now red hair.

"I know it feels strange, Mei-Mei. But I promise, nobody will notice a thing," Ming reassured, placing a hand on top of Mei's.

"Thank you for your concern, Mother. But I'll be fine," Mei said in a monotone. Y/N knew she was doing that to keep her emotions in check and not transform.

"Well, you two are clearly going to talk about female puberty, so I'm outta here," Y/N said, getting out of the car.

A minute later, Mei got out of the car as well. She looked back to their mom with a nervous grin and give her two thumbs up.

"Smooth, Mei," Y/N remarked sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.

The twins entered the building, their peers chatting amongst themselves.

"Hey Mei, Y/N," Miriam called out to them, the twins meeting up with Mei's friends.

"Hey, girlfriends. What is up?" Mei greeted them in an awkward monotone.

"Uh, what's with the tuque?" Miriam asked.

"She's having a bad hair day," Y/N lied.

Abby sniffed the air around Mei, "Did you, like, work out this morning?" she asked her.

"I've got you, girl," Priya handed Mei a stick of deodorant.

"Y/N!" they all heard a voice. They all saw Stacy, who proceeded to walk up Y/N, "Morning," she said, hugging him.

"Morning, Stace," Y/N said, hugging her back.

Stacy glanced at Priya and stuck her tongue out at her. Priya narrowed her eyes at this and released a low, subtle growl.

"Mei, we've gotta talk," Miriam said while Mei subconsciously rubbed the deodorant on her face, and Y/N and Stacy broke their hug.

"Ok," Mei said, still in a monotone.

"Tyler's been telling everyone about the Daisy Mart," Miriam said.

"What?" Mei replied.

"He said your mom went nuts," Abby spoke.

"Oh boy..." Y/N said with a wince. He already knew things at the Daisy Mart most likely didn't go over so well. This pretty much confirmed it.

"And that you're kind of a perv," Priya added.

"I am not a..." Mei was about to yell, only to stop herself by breathing deeply, "Tyler is an insecure jerkwad. Words were exchanged. Slight uncomfortable secrets were revealed," she said, handing Priya back her deodorant, "End of storyyy..." her voice suddenly became slurred.

The reason for that was because the goth/emo kid, Carter Murphey Mayhew had walked past. Her eyes were dilated and she was blushing with her mouth slightly open. It was like she was in a trance.

"Hey, Mei. Snap out of it!" Y/N snapped his fingers in front of her face, bringing her back to reality.

"Oh, sorry," Mei replied. She turned her slightly and gasped. On several lockers were various drawings of Mei with the clerk from the Daisy Mart, "No!" Mei tore one of the pictures down.

"Tyler's been putting these up," Miriam informed them.

They then heard mocking laughter.

"Devon, my precious manly man," Tyler said in a mocking tone.

Y/N growled at the boy. Tyler was Mei's rival and Y/N disliked him just as much as she did. Y/N himself was prepared to leap into the air and deliver a tornado kick to his face. However, he was stopped by Stacy grabbing wrist. He looked back at the attractive blonde and saw her shake her head, silently telling him that it wasn't worth it. Y/N sighed through his nose.

"Come on, Y/N," Stacy said, gently pulling him by the arm.

"Mei, just ignore that jerk and get to class," Y/N quickly told his twin before turning the corner with Stacy.

Y/N and Stacy arrived at History class. They would've taken their seats, which were across from each other, but Stacy felt the sudden urge to use the bathroom. Before she did though, she spotted something rather odd.

"Hey, Y/N, isn't that your mom outside?" Stacy pointed at the window before heading to the nearest restroom.

"What?!" Y/N ran over to the window. Looking outside, he saw that, standing behind a tree was his mom wearing sunglasses. "What the hell?" Y/N narrowed his eyes in confusion.

Mei's class was down the hall from his, just a few doors away. Judging by her position, their mom must've been spying on her. To make matters worse, the security guard showed up and they seemed to be having a verbal argument. Ming even kicked the security guard in the shin.

"Mei-Mei, tell him it's mommy!" Y/N heard his mom yell. Yeah, she was definitely spying on Mei.

"This can't be any more embarrassing. Both for me and for Mei..." Y/N groaned with his hand on his face. However, that's when his mom said the one thing you should never say in front of your daughter's peers.

"Mei-Mei! Tell him you forgot your pads!" Ming said, pulling out pads for Mei's personal issues.

"I stand corrected..." Y/N said with defeat. Despite being a few doors away, Y/N heard Mei scream then shriek. He also heard a cloudy explosion and... a roar? That was then followed up by loud thumps, "Oh, crap! Mei!"

Y/N bolted out of the classroom. It was just in time to see his sister run around the corner and down the hall in her panda form. Y/N chased after his twin, being fast enough to at least be a few feet from her tail. Mei ended up bumping into two students on the way before entering the girl's bathroom.

"Mei?" Y/N put his ear to the door and heard a surprised gasp.

"O... M... G!" he heard a familiar voice say slowly.

"Aw, crap, Stacy..." Y/N muttered. He then heard the window in the bathroom open.

Knowing Mei was trying to escape, Y/N headed for the front door. That's where he bumped into his mom. They ran out of the building where and saw Mei running across the street.

"Mei-Mei! Stop!" Ming called out to her daughter to no avail. She and Y/N got into the car with Y/N riding shotgun as they drove after Mei. "Jin! Jin, get home now. There's been an emergency!" Ming said to her husband over the phone, "No! Another one..." she replied with dread.

Ming drove down a street, only to suddenly stop when a sign fell right in front of the car. They looked up and saw Mei running across the rooftops.

"Mei-Mei!" Ming called out to the panda girl.

"Don't worry, I can catch her," Y/N said while getting out of the car.

Y/N ran towards the building Mei was just on and leaped into the air. He landed on the awning which land him high enough to land on the roof of the building. Just as before, he chased after his twin. Eventually, he managed to at least be a foot away from her tail.

"Mei!" Y/N called out to her, "Mei, calm down!"

"Gotta get home! Gotta hide!" Mei said, tears streaming down her furry face.

As they neared the temple, Y/N managed to grab Mei's tail and climb onto her back. Just in time too because Mei just leaped from the roof of Mr. Gao's apartment. The old man must've seen this since Y/N heard him gasp in awe. The twins were closing in on the temple wall. However, instead of flying over it, Mei crashed into it... knocking the wind out of her and knocking Y/N off her back.

Mei cried as she burst through temple doors. Their mom appeared shortly afterward, panting heavily with her hair a mess, clearly out of breath. Did she run all the way over here?

Ming and Y/N ran towards the house. When they entered, they saw the house was a mess, from the living room to Mei's room.

"Geez, Mei..." Y/N muttered as they approach his sister's room. Mei was under the covers as she cried.

"Mei-Mei?" Ming looked at her daughter's panda form.

"Don't look at me! Stay back!" Mei told their mom while frantically brushing her furry cheeks.

"Sweetie... it's ok. Mommy's here," Ming reassured, kneeling beside Mei.

"What's happening to me?!" Mei asked as she continued to sob.

"What is it? What... what..." Jin came in, and then gasped upon seeing the panda, "It's happened already?"

Mei's sobbing then stopped and there was a brief pause. She came out from under the covers.

"...What did you say?" Mei asked slowly.

"Ming..." Jin placed a hand on his wife's shoulder, "It's time."

"Considering Mei is a giant red panda, I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and guess this has something to do with Sun Yee. Am I right?" Y/N asked.

"Yes, Y/N, you're right..." Ming said.

"Thought so. I'd love to stay and hear the backstory of what's going on here, but I think I've got the gist of what it is. Besides, I've got somewhere to be," Y/N said as he turned around to walk away, "Good luck, Mei."

Aunt Chun's House/Temple...

"You're here earlier than expected, Y/N. I thought for sure you'd be in school," Chun said, she and Y/N in the backyard/temple as they ate bowls of ramen at the table.

"Yeah, well, let's just say it was half day for me," Y/N said vaguely, taking a slurp of his noodles.

"Alright, I'll believe that. For now..." Chun said, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"So, remember when you said Mei would be going through some changes? This morning, I think find out exactly what you meant," Y/N said.

"Oh?" Chun raised a knowing eyebrow while taking a slurp of her noodles.

"Mei's a giant red panda," Y/N said.

"Yep," Chun said.

"So, this happens to every woman on my mom's side of the family?"

"Yep."

"So, if I ever have a daughter, she'll change into a red panda, too?"

"Yep."

"Great..." Y/N said sarcastically, "So, is there any way to get rid of it or is Mei stuck changing into a panda forever?"

"There's a lunar eclipse ritual thing she can do to seal her panda spirit away. Unless she decides to keep her panda for some reason," Chun told him.

"Well, whatever choice she makes, I'll support her," Y/N said, Chun smiling as she watched him gulp down the broth. Once he was done, he released a refreshed sigh, "So, you mentioned teaching me an old technique. What was it?" he asked.

Chun chuckled and gulped down her broth, setting the bowl down once she was finished. She gestured her nephew to follow her a few feet away from the table.

"Tell me, Y/N, have you been doing your tai chi?" Chun asked.

"Uh-huh. Every day after breakfast," Y/N replied.

"What about meditation?" Chun asked.

"I tend to do that during lunch and after dinner," Y/N replied.

"Good. And what's the point of tai chi and meditation?" Chun asked.

"Uh... Oh! To relax the body and calm the mind," Y/N replied, feeling like he was a student answering questions given to him by his teacher. Which, technically, he was.

"That's good to know, because you're going to need both in order to learn what I'm about to teach you," Chun said with an eager smirk.

"And that would be?" Y/N raised an eyebrow.

Chun giggled. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She held her right arm out, her hand surrounded in a hot pink energy that danced around like fire. She channeled the energy into her palm, forming a small energy ball that had a fiery aura. Y/N looked at her with shock and awe. She then looked at her nephew with a smug expression.

"Chi," Chun said simply.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!!