Cat and Mouse

"**Cat and Mouse**" is the first episode from season one of Kung Fu Panda: the big war. It was the first episode to be aired on The Awesome Universe as a sneak is chronologically followed by "The Hidden Enemy."

## Premise

Daniel and Tai Lung must deliver supplies to Christophsis while the city is under empire and arkeyans control. The encounter Empire Commander Admiral Trench and get more than they bargained for.

## Synopsis

From the surface of Christophsis, Senator Bail Organa conferences via hologram with Tai Lung and Admiral Wullf Yularen on-board the Star Destroyer Resolute. arkeyan forces are on the verge of overrunning his position, and his supplies have all but run out. Tai Lung and Yularen desperately try to salvage their own losing battle against the Emperie and arkeyan blockade around Christophsis, but the enemy flagship Invincible under the command of Emperie Admiral Trench bears down on the kung fu supply fleet. As Tai Lung prepares to charge the flagship, another Kung Fu cruiser, the Negotiator commanded by Master Daniel, emerges from hyperspace behind them. At the insistence of Daniel and Yularen, Tai Lung reluctantly orders a retreat to behind Christophsis's mountain.

Crossing over to Daniel's cruiser, Tai Lung discovers his father's new weapon: a prototype stealth ship equipped with a powerful cloaking device. Tai Lung is excited by the potential of this ship, but Daniel insists his new mission is not to engage the Empire and arkeyan fleet, but to sneak through the blockade and deliver supplies to Senator Organa. Meanwhile, Admiral Yularen, doing some research of his own, recognizes Trench's emblem on the Arkeyan ships and joins Tai Lung as the Kung Fu master is about to depart. He tells him about how Trench has supposedly perished years ago in battle, and convinced that Trench is now in command of the blockade fleet, he joins Tai Lung as a volunteer advisor.

Meanwhile, Trench, wanting to add pressure to the Kung Fu fleet, dispatches a squad of bombers to attack Organa's command center. After narrowly avoiding an inadvertent collision with the bombers, and having receiving a message from Daniel regarding Bail's peril, Tai Lung decides to attack Trench's ship directly, hoping to divert Trench's attention from the city. The ploy is successful, but Tai Lung's attack is thwarted by the Invincible's thermal shields, and after seeing Tai Lung in action, Trench surmises that his opponent is a kung fu master. He transmits a message over an open frequency, commending Tai Lung's bravery in challenging him, but warning he has faced and beaten ships armed with cloaking devices before.

Tai Lung contacts Daniel, who explains that Trench's war record confirms his threat. In these previous cases, Trench used tracking torpedoes to destroy the enemy whether or not their ship was cloaked, and Tai Lung theorizes that Trench locks the torpedoes onto an enemy ship's magnetic signature. Sensing a way to use this against him, Tai Lung attacks again. This time Trench is able to lock onto the stealth ship's magnetic signature and fires tracking torpedoes, but is forced to lower his shields to do so. With the torpedoes locked onto them, Tai Lung flies straight at the Invincible. Realizing his mistake too late, Trench orders the shields be raised, but their recycling time takes too long for that. As Trench watches in horror, Tai Lung flies the stealth ship inches past the Invincible's bridge, and seconds later the tracking torpedoes slam into the superstructure, destroying the Invincible.

With Trench's flagship destroyed, Daniel and Commander Cody launch a new attack on the leaderless Empire and Arkeyan fleet while Tai Lung and Yularen pilot the stealth ship down to Christophsis to deliver the vital supplies to Organa and his men. Senator Organa gives his gratitude to Tai Lung, and Yularen expresses both concern and admiration for Tai Lung's daring, if unorthodox, tactics.