Chapter 11

Shinning Jewel… Yumao's palace…

Crane followed Yumao as they strolled through the black crane's palace, and Crane's nose was starting to kill him. The over use of perfumes and incense hug great in the air that he could chock on it.

"So Crane," Yumao said appearing unfazed by the smell, "what do you think of my grand palace? Far better than that underrated Jade palace wouldn't you say?"

Crane rolled his eyes. This had been going on for the past hour now. He had tried several times to inquire about the recent bandit attacks, and yet with each time Yumao merely brushed the question off by stating how wonderful his village was compared to others.

He was beginning to relate with Po's dislike of avian.

"Sir Yumao," Crane said attempting to maintain a level of self-control, "can we please discuss the issue your village is having with these bandit attacks?"

"Bandit attacks?" Yumao muttered in a confused manner, "I must say I have no idea what you're talking about. There have been no raids on our high and mighty village. Who would dare say such lies?"

Crane took on a confused expression. "Well the letter Grandmaster Shifu received stated that it was sent by someone named, Duncan."

"DUNCAN!" Yumao snapped, "That hooligan should have been named Dung. He's nothing but a scum ridden low life piece of filth, spending all of his waking time wasting away in the dirt and mud. Oh just the thought of him makes me sick."

"Just what does this Duncan fellow do?"

Yumao waved arm about him, turning away from Crane and said in a low hateful voice, "Oh he's a farmer or something, completely unimportant."

Unimportant, Crane thought. "But Sir Yumao, aren't farmers consider the most value trade good in China?"

"Nonsense," Yumao snapped, "there's nothing special about them they're just nothing but grubby low life mongrels," he paused to narrow his eyes and form an evil grin while turning to face Crane and spoke in a low tone, "Not like you and me."

"And what do you mean by that?"

The contemptible grin on the black crane widen as he said, "Isn't it obvious? Out of all the races in the world we avians are the only ones who can fly. That is what makes up superior to those common riffraff," Yumao paused as he was overcome with a fit of laughter. "In fact we are so superior that we should be ruling this world, and yet we're constantly looked down upon because of our suppose weakness," he paused once again, his eyes narrowing, "but that will all change soon enough."

Crane looked baffled and felt a little nerves by the tone and expression upon the black crane. "What do you mean by that?"

Yumao turned to face Crane, his evil grin widen as he said, "Tell me my fellow avian brother, have you heard of—"

Suddenly one of Yumao's guards burst into the room shouting, "Lord Yumao!"

Yumao's eyes narrowed and turned to glare at the beast. "How dare you, you know that only avians are allowed to enter my palace."

The ram quickly knelt before the black crane, dropping his gaze to the floor. "Oh Mighty Avian, Lord of the Skies and my vastly superior," he said in a groveling voice, "please forgive this worthless soul."

A look of disgust formed on Crane's face. How can he go on saying that? Doesn't this person have any pride?

"You have but one chance to save your worthless skin," Yumao said in a cruel tone, "speak quickly."

The guard tilted his head up slightly though reframed from looking Yumao in the eye. "A giant panda was spotted in the Market Street."

Yumao staggered back, his eyes open wide in shock, a look of terror formed on his face as he shouted. "A PANDA?!"

"Po?" Crane whispered.

Yumao clinched his fists stomping about the room, crying out in a frantic manner. "How could a panda possible slip into my village without my knowledge? Where is this blasted panda? Tell me that you managed to kill him."

The guard lowered his gaze once again. "Forgive me sire, but the panda escaped. He caused a great deal of ruckus, toppling a number of stands and harming several merchants."

"That doesn't sound like Po," Crane said in a low voice.

"What?" Yumao snapped turning on Crane with narrow eyes. "Don't tell me you know this cursed creature."

"Well he's…" Crane began, about reveal that Po was the legendary Dragon Warrior, but thought better for it. Po had gone to great lengths to keep the truth of his status. Instead he lowered his head and said in a hollow tone, "my servant."

"Then I shall hold you personally accountable for any damage this soulless creature has caused."

"I'm telling you, Po's a good person, he could not have been the cause of this," Crane said doing his best to keep his voice level.

"Oh do not give me that," Yumao said his voice carrying a heavy load of madness, "the only good panda is a dead panda."

Crane's narrowed. He had had enough of this crazed avian. He didn't know what problem he had against Po or pandas for that matter but he had no right to treat him like that. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go Po and get back to more important matters."

"You aren't going anywhere," Yumao snapped, "guard, stop him!"

The ram stood and drew his bow and launched several arrows at Crane.

Crane rolled his eyes. You've got to be kidding me. Don't these guys know who they're dealing with? Crane waited till the arrows came with reach and then shifted his stance to one leg and snatched a metal tray from the nearby table. Using it as a shield Crane deflected each arrow before tossing the tray toward the ram with enough force to slice the bow in two. Crane then dashed across the room to kick the guard in the waist followed up with a swift leg sweep bringing the ram to the ground. Quickly glancing to his right, Crane could see Yumao bearing on him with a small blade. Twirling about, he slap one wing about knocking the knife out of the black crane's hand, followed up with another hard slap with his other wing forcing Yumao against the wall.

As the two avians gazed deeply into each other, Crane glared into Yumao's with a look of hatred. "You may be the chieftain of this village, but I am Kung Fu Master of the Jade Palace. You would do well to remember to never cross me again. Now I'm going to look for my friend and we are going to leave this village in peace, and I if were you, you never threaten me or anyone else I know ever again."

Crane then moved his wing away from Yumao, allowing the black crane to slump along the ground gasping for air, and then turned and made his way toward the main doors.

"You…you…won't…get away with this," Yumao stammered glaring up at Crane, "I have powerful friends, and I'll see you beheaded for this."

Crane stood before the doors, his body rigid, and Yumao took that chance to laugh at the apparent display of fear coming from the avian, though the laughter stopped when Crane brought his wings back and shouted, "WINGS OF JUSITCE!" He then brought his wings forward creating a massive gust of wind, not only forcing the doors open, but tearing them from the hinges. Before leaving completely though, Crane glanced over his shoulder, his narrow eyes glaring at Yumao that caused the black crane to cringe under their gaze.

"So do I," Crane said in a low tone, "and you don't want to make an enemy of them, you won't live long enough to regret it."

With that, Crane flew off to try and find Po, and his first stop would be the market street. He only hope that he'd find them before Yumao's men did.