Darting through the Night


"DEAD SHOT!" Shouted Zheng-Hau at the panda, "THE Dead Shot? Master of long-range and short-range weaponry and hand-to-hand fighter in all of China?! Zeng's THAT Dead Shot!" The Jackrabbit glared at the panda. "My gosh!" He walked in a small circle before coming back to Po's left side. "Do you realize the kind of legend that was right under my nose! I could have learned from him and never had to deal with Zhao!"

"I know, but Zeng told me to keep it a secret. It would put his family in danger," Po replied.

"I don't understand," Tigress said, her eyes sadly set on the table in front of her, "All those years were just... lies?"

"They weren't," Po argued, "Zeng knew it would cause problems if you knew."

"Then how did you know?" Tai-Lung asked with arms crossed and raised an eyebrow.

The panda nervously scratched the side of his cheek, "I... I accidentally found out."

"Well, I'm not surprised," Tai chuckled a bit. He looked at his foster sister's sulking posture. Her eyes still downcast and her ears drooping. The very air around her felt heavy and depressing. While Zheng continued on his rage, Tai knelt down to Tigress's side. "What's wrong?"

"How much of my friends' life do I actually know?" Tigress asked, clenching her fists. Tai sighed, stood back up, and walked over to Zheng-Hau, placing his arm in front of the jackrabbit.

"This is not helping us get Zhao out of China," Tai-Lung reminded everyone in the room. "We need to start moving and fighting Zhao."

Po nodded. Zheng-Hau rolled his eyes, turning away. Po stood up, stretching forth his hand and resting it on the jackrabbit's shoulder, gently smiling at him. Zheng-Hau sighed and uncrossed his arms. "Zeng needs our help. That's what matters," He replied, darting out the room with Yun. The others left Tigress and Po alone. Tigress still gazed into the table.

"Tigress?" Po asked.

"I think I should-" Po placed a hand on her shoulder as he sat down with her.

"Tigress, don't get hung up about this. There are a lot of things I don't know about you. But think of it like this: if Zeng told us, everyone would be in danger," Po said. He gently placed his hand on hers. "I don't know everything about Zeng, myself, you, or about what will happen. But I do know we'll be fine." Po paused a moment and smiled. "I guess that's why tomorrow is always a good thing. We always get to learn something new about ourselves and each other."

Tigress returned a small smile before getting up. She sucked in a breath and sighed heavily, "Let's go help Zeng." Po nodded as the two rushed out the door.


The cool of the night pressed them onward. Po and the others darted through the nighttime forest, trying to beat the Mongolians to the northern mountains. "Come on! We have to get there quick!" Po shouted at them. He was running as fast as he could, but he still had "Panda Asthma." "Wait up!" Tigress jumped gracefully over a large tree root while Tai-Lung ducked underneath it. The moon shone their way through its dim light. They finally stopped running to rest for the night. After setting up their camps and building a campfire, Crane, Monkey, Mantis, Viper, and Yun went to bed while Tai, Tigress, Po, and Zheng-Hau stayed around the fire. "Pass the water please," Po asked Tigress. Tai's watchful eye gazed at Tigress then the panda.

"So," The snow leopard began, "how do Zeng and Zhao know each other?"

"I don't know, but whenever Shifu mentioned Zhao, Zeng would listen in," Po said, looking intently into the fire.

"How do you know?" Tigress asked.

"You can tell by how he looks. His nervous Zeng suddenly changes to a serious Zeng," Po sighed, relaxing back onto the ground. "He is going to have to explain how he knew the Mongolians were coming before anyone of us knew."

"So you just knew the fact that he was Dead Shot and nothing else?" Zheng-Hau asked. "I'm more surprised you didn't tell anyone."

Po shrugged. "When it comes to a life-and-death situation, I tend to act differently." Tai-Lung and Tigress looked at each other for a moment before looking at Zheng-Hau.

"Zheng," Tigress said, "You've been with Zhao the longest among us. Do you know any of the struggles between Zeng and Zhao?"

The jackrabbit looked into the fire. His eyes gazed thoughtfully at the flickering flames. "Yes and no," He answered, "He was relentless about finding him, but most times conquering China was his goal."

Po yawned, straightening his back as he twisted it left and right. Then his eyes shot open. "Wait, that reminds me. How did you manage to learn from THE general of the Mongolian Army since you're Chinese?" Po asked

Zheng-Hau rubbed his arm. He cast his low lidded eyes towards the flames as he chuckled awkwardly, "That was because of Zhao's wife. Originally, I stumbled into Mongolian territory. They took me captive. Zhao had full intentions to kill me, even though I explained to them I was harmless. That's when Zhao's wife intervened and suggested that I have a trial period to prove I wasn't a spy. After a long, long time of debating between them, Zhao agreed." Zheng rubbed the back of his long ears to fold down along his spine. "They were extreme opposites. If Zhao was mean, Lu-Su was kind. If Zhao was strict, Lu-Su was lenient. She stood up for me when I couldn't for myself. I often wonder how they were married."

"What happened to her?" Tigress asked.

"I don't know. She was still there when I left. Anyways, when Zhao saw that I knew a lot about weaponry, he changed. He started teaching me how to use weapons and fighting styles. He didn't teach me nerve attacks. Some elders near the border taught me that," Zheng-Hau replied. "But Zhao became more...caring?"

"You don't seem convinced," Tai-Lung noted.

"It's the kind of eerie caring that scares a child," Zheng-Hau explained. The blank faces told the jackrabbit he had to explain more. "Whenever I did something wrong, he would motivate me through the thought that I would be weak if I didn't make it. Everything had to be perfect and stupid me," He paused, sighing heavily, "thought that it was encouraging. The only thing that made me question it all back then was the constant sadness on Lu-Su's face."

"What changed?" Tigress asked.

"About seven years after, I got a backbone. I finally pushed back against Zhao's lies and told him I would become stronger than him by making an army of my own," Zheng-Hau replied, "That's when Lu-Su became frantic. She told me that no matter what that I was worth it. Of course, at the time I didn't realize what she meant, but now I realize she was trying to help me see through Zhao's lies." Zheng-Hau yawned loudly. "But that's as much as I remember about the tiger. He's very cunning and brutal. I wouldn't be surprised if we see smoldering villages on our way there." Zheng-Hau clenched his right hand and gritted his teeth. Suddenly, he looked at the two felines. "There has been something I've been meaning to ask you two."

"What's that?" Tai-Lung asked.

"How in Great China did you overcome your differences with each other?" Zheng-Hau asked.

Po snickered, "These two were always causing some kind of trouble in the Jade Palace, more than me. 'You are an insufferable old crook' Tigress would say," Po said in a higher-pitched authoritative mocking voice. "'And you're a naive mini-Shifu that can't see the big picture' Tai-Lung would say," Po recited in a hoarse yet sinister eloquent voice. Tai-Lung and Tigress glared silently at Po, yet Zheng-Hau laughed. "But what finally got them to stop trying to kill each other was they figured out it was pointless."

"Unfortunately, the panda is right," Tai-Lung growled out, crossing his arms and burning his eyes at the smirking panda. "Tigress and I were on a mission with Po when he got ill. We both cared for him. Through that, we started realizing how much Po meant to both of us. For Tigress it's understandable, but for me, Po represented a second chance. While Po was resting, we talked and came to the realization that our tit-for-tat was futile. Shifu did what he could to raise us, Po was Dragon Warrior: the title we both wanted, and the world was moving on." Tai-Lung closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders, giving a long sigh. "It was useless holding a grudge for something that couldn't be solved by either of us dying or submitting."

"So you two just... gave up?" Zheng-Hau finished. Tai shrugged again before slumping his back against the hard trunk of a bamboo stalk. Zheng-Hau looked at Tigress who nodded in a matter-of-fact manner. It was difficult to understand why the great Master Tigress, who was willing to do whatever it took to accomplish something, would "give up". Zheng-Hau thought about it for a while. Sometimes, he thought, the greatest achievement in life is to know when you're not supposed to achieve something.

Po gave a great yawn before standing up, "Well, I think we should get some beauty sleep. Once we get to that border, the real fight began." he said excitedly.

continued...