Wolf Boss opened his eyes. Everything was blur and spinning. He produced a noise much like a growl, then blinked and took in his surroundings. The room was bare, except for the chair below him, where his paws had been tied against. The drab floor and walls had a gloomy cement facing he immediately recognized. This was the inspection room, a part of the dungeon Lord Shen had built to shut away his enemies. The place had been built shorty before the annihilation of pandas and Wolf Boss had many times led royal counselors and statesmen in it, sometimes only to return alone. His eye fell on the white peacock standing in front of him, in a distance that kept him safe. An angry snarl escaped his mouth before he could stop it. The peacock smirked nastily.

Wolf Boss knew Shen would kill him now for sure. He knew it was all over but there was nothing he could do about it. The peacock extended one wing in front of his nose, Wolf Boss watched the knife blade stand inches away from his face. His ears fell behind by force of habit.

"Ahem..." The noise distracted them both. Shen turned around, while the wolf browsed for the source of the noise. He found it standing in front of the room's door -painted gray to match the walls and mislead any ambitious escapees; a blue peafowl, with a tall green crest. Lady Fei walked up to his former master and examined the wolf. She had never payed much attention to wolves in general -to her they were merely guards and did not deserve attention- but this one caught her eye; the dark fur and his missing eye. The wolf returned her glare, only with much more menace.

"Lord Shen," a hoarse voice was heard from behind them. The peacock turned around blinked. Two wolves were standing in front of the door dragging a curled furry ball of orange. The peacock raised a brow; he had never seen such an animal before. The fox raised her pointy nose, and revealed the white stripe on her lower jaw that continued on the front of her neck and down her belly. Shen noticed her once white clothes were muddy and torn. The fox raised her ears and fixed her gaze behind him. Shen followed her eyes and noticed she was looking at the wolf, and he was looking back at her; they shared the same agonizing expression. Lady Fei, who was much sharper when it came to matters of heart, smartly saw what was going on.

"Is that what they call a fox?" Shen asked, not concealing some horrible insult as the others thought, but because he simply did not know.

"Yes," Lady Fei answered in a the way a mother would reply to her naive son. Shen nodded silently.

"Take him to be executed with the Masters," he commanded, "But keep this creature in the dungeon," he lowered his voice as he begun to flounce out of the room. The wolf snarled and barked as the others grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him outside. It took five wolves in total to break his resistance, the fox's eyes were fixed on him until he disappeared. Lady Fei felt her heart leap in her stomach. Then she looked sadly at the fox and she reciprocated. Such a heartbreaking look she had never received before, and this was probably why she emerged out of the room and hurried after Shen who had just exited the dungeon.

Fei watched him walk for a minute, dragging his long white tail and showing off his tall crest. As sickly as he looked, the pink sun rays admittedly gave him some sort of wicked divinity, made her feel common and inferior. Then she remembered what her father used to say about superiority; it's all about how well you sell yourself. You just have to believe something about yourself, and others will see it in you. Shen seemed beyond reach and disarmingly forward, but remembering how desperate this fox looked forced her to walk up to him. Shen only payed some attention when she started to walk next to him.

"You know," Fei begun, uncertain of whether or not he was listening, "There's a real battle going on down there." The peacock looked away; the rising sun interested him more.

"Hm?" was all she got for an answer. Discouraged but not losing her hopes, she continued.

"Well, they are totally disorganized. And this may seem trivial now, but it will cost you in the future, you know."

As indifferent as he was, the word future captured his attention. The peacock stopped walking and turned his ruby orbs on her.

"Proceed," he encouraged. Fei tried to hide her smile of success.

"Imagine being in the middle of a battle and giving a command. They all rush to please you first and in the end mess up." He narrowed his eyes and frowned.

"I know that," he said defensively. Fei wanted to explain how she didn't mean to insult him, but her time was too short.

"My point is if there was someone leading them for you, one that would only take orders from you, this mess would be easily cleared up." she stopped and waited for his reaction. Shen raised a brow thoughtfully. Maybe it's not that hard, Fei thought.

"Who?" he asked in a hoarse tone.

"Um...Who is your most faithful and trustworthy wolf?" she asked and though Shen already knew the answer, he hesitated to reply.

"YOU!" all of sudden he yelled to one of the wolves guarding the dungeon palace. The wolf pointed at himself with a questioning wink. "Yes, I'm not creased! Tell them to put the execution off." The wolf nodded enthusiastically and dashed inside the dungeon.

"Are you happy now?" Shen asked as soon as the wolf was gone. His manner was not abrupt but not concerning either. Lady Fei smiled slightly.

"Well, it's a start."

The next several days had Wolf Boss returned to his place in the palace, leading the troops, almost none of which had a problem accepting him as a leader. His relationship with Shen was not as healthy as before, yet Wolf Boss wanted to forgive him and believe the peacock was showing some signs of change. Which was completely false, because the only source of benevolence in Shen's actions was his unexplained desire to please Lady Fei, who exploited her fancy jewelery and vibrant feathers to coax him. Of course, Shen was not a fool. He knew what was going on and knew where to stop and keep his distance. Behind each and every one of his actions, hid a plot. For example, he had agreed with Fei willfully attempting to put up a festival, only because Shen needed money for his operations and festivals are said to bring fortune and many extravagant visitors.

But the peahen had her own motivators as well. Seeing there was no alternative to stopping Shen, she had decided to follow the Masters' advice and distract him as much as possible. Constantly chasing him around was her way to do it.

As for Masters Ox and Croc, they were lucky enough not to follow young Master Rhino, as their execution had been put off and they were safe for the time being. However, both of them knew their state was a sensitive one, and even one upsetting could have Shen killing them.

The fox, on the other hand, who was no other but Nurse Kim, was hired by Lady Fei as her personal chambermaid, and therefore got to be around her beloved Wolf Boss most of the time. Fei and Kim quickly built a relationship, which they both kept secret because it was considered humiliating for any royalty to build friendships with common maids.

While life in Gogmem was beginning to look up, hardships were beginning to arise for Po, who had been on his way to find Master Worm for several weeks now, yet had got lost inside the lush flora and camped on the mountainside to rest. Things got even worse when heavy rain started, putting out his fire, destroying his dinner as well as the handmade tent he had built. Po stood wet, depressed, cold and alone.

Thoughts of anguish and guilt overwhelmed him. He imagined Shen's cannons firing against the city, people screaming for help. He had left them in the hands of a merciless tyrants. Betrayed the Masters, Princess Fei, the city. His father thought of him as a hero, but Po knew he could never be one. He could never match up to Dragon Yenn, he could not even defeat an over-ambitious peacock.

Then he remembered Tigress and the way she advised him to never stop. He sat there, in the pouring rain, his fur dripping wet, and remembered how he had believed in himself and defeated Tai Lung, or how he defeated Shen the first time. Standing on his feet, Po took a very important decision; no matter what, he would find Master Worm and learn the way to defeat Dragon Yenn. But as his right foot stepped on the ground, the panda felt an unstoppable force push him backwards. He landed on his back and stared at the sky. The rain slowly hushed, and Po saw the clouds clear up and reveal the break of dawn.

"You are the high and mighty Dragon Warrior?" the panda raised his head and looked around, when he heard the weak, squeaky voice.

"Um..I guess..I mean, yes I am." the panda sat up. "But where are you?"

"Right below your nose." the voice was heard again and Po felt something crawling up between his nostrils. The warm sat on his fat nose, tiny eyes staring into his.

"Wow! Master Swampy Worm! It's really you!" The worm folded in two, then jumped off Po and crawled up on a log. "That's...AWESOME!"

"Yes I know." the worm boasted, then crept on the log, before he went ahead and stood on a higher protuberance. "Now are you ready to know the secret of Inner Strength?"

The panda nodded, his mouth still hanging open in awe. All of sudden, the worm bolted with lighting speed and Po felt a strong punch on his lower jaw that knocked him back down. He sat up again and watched the worm land back on the log.

"No you're not."