To say the gorilla was nervous was a massive understatement.
He wrung his hands together, trying desperately to calm his thudding heart. The news he was about to deliver would probably land with him in hot water with the boss, and he was dreading to think of what would happen.
The doors threw themselves open, and the thud made the ape jump in surprise. In walked the man himself, draped in a lavish silk robe and dripping with overconfidence.
"Shai, my friend." He held his hands out. There was a friendly, yet sinister look on his face. "How are the preparations going?"
"Sir, t-there's something you need to know." The gorilla stammered. He watched the smile leave the wolf's muzzle. "Most of the patrols never made it back. They were attacked by rebels before they could even leave the western provinces."
"I'm sorry," the wolf chuckled, shaking his head. The reaction scared the gorilla to no end, "it sounded as though you were saying the wolves were attacked."
"T-they were, sir."
For a split second, there was an astounded silence.
"WHAT?" Before he could even react, Shai was being slammed into the ground, leaving a massive crack in the stone of the Great Hall. "How many are left?" Bai's voice was harsh and cold.
"Maybe fifty. There were so many of them." The gorilla wheezed out. The room was spinning, making him feel nauseous and tired.
"Where are they?" Bai leaned in real close and hissed.
"I don't know." He braced himself, feeling stupid for being afraid of the wolf half his size. "By the time the other scouts even found out what was happening, they had gone."
The wolf growled, but said nothing. Instead, he pulled away from the gorilla and turned from him, obviously thinking hard. "Can we operate under the resources we have?"
"No, sir." The gorilla slowly lifted himself up, slightly afraid that the wolf would pummel him into the ground again. "We need at least fifty more men."
The wolf paced back and forth, hands behind his back. "How many wolves are in Ho Ching?"
"Last I heard, seventy-two….sir." The Shai stammered back.
"Pull them from the camp. I want them here by morning." He turned away harshly.
"Sir, the prisoners-"
"Are too weak to fight with the rebels. Even if we release them, they will not be physically able to do us harm." Bai bit back harshly. "They WILL be here by the end of the week, or you will no longer have a place of employment." With that biting reply, he left the gorilla on the floor, terrified.
OoOoOoO
Tigress didn't remember much of the last twenty four hours, but Po did.
By the time they made it back to the camp, she had practically collapsed from exhaustion. After dropping her off at the medical tent, he went in search of food.
More than a few people stared at him as he walked by, obviously never having seen him before. It wasn't until Mei Ling and Crane came to join him that he felt less exposed. They showed him where to find decent soup and then led him to the old training hall so that he could catch up with the others.
"Where's Tigress?" Viper pressed almost as soon as he entered. "Did you find her?"
"Yeah. She's in the medical tent getting some rest. What do we know?" He plopped down on a mat, almost spilling his soup. Shifu sat a few paces away, Viper on his left and the fox (What was her name? Yú?) sat on his right. Monkey sat next to her, with Mantis perched on his shoulder. Crane sat next to Po and Mei Ling joined the panda on the other side.
"Well, two small scouts managed to get through our defenses." Monkey sighed. "But we did take out quite a few of them. There were so many that we had to set up a new tent just to take care of injuries."
"Are any of them talking?" Crane asked the group. Po slurped his soup happily next to him.
"A few have come out with information, but none of it is useful." Shifu stroked his beard in thought. "It makes me think that they didn't even know the extent of the plans."
"So what do we do now?" Po asked around a mouthful.
"Well, we have one last option. One of the men who was captured was a general. He was beaten pretty bad, but we are hoping that once he wakes, we can get information out of him." Mei replied.
"But what if he doesn't have anything? What then?" Po swallowed and looked to each of them for an answer they didn't have. The group remained silent, not willing to think about what they would do if they couldn't get information.
"Master Shifu!" A young rhino burst through the doors, out of breath. "Ho Ching is being eliminated."
"What do you mean?" Shifu stood from his spot, leaning heavily on his cane.
"The wolves are moving out! They've starting killing everyone they can!"
"Monkey, Mantis, Mei Ling, Crane, go!" Shifu barely finished the command before all three masters had left the building. " Viper, gather some men. Spread out and try to keep them from escaping."
"Master, what do I do?" Po jumped from his spot, soup forgotten.
"Stay here." The panda opened his mouth to protest, but Shifu raised a hand. "This may be a diversion. If it is, I need you here protecting this camp."
Although Po wanted to protest, he knew it was futile.
OoOoOoO
Ho Ching was a scene of mass chaos when Crane touched down. Bodies littered the main courtyard of the camp, from all species. Most of them had deep wounds and he could see their bones through their skin. The scene made him physically nauseous, and he had to fight back the bile rising in his throat.
A scream could be heard across the way in one of the barracks, and he didn't hesitate to run towards the sound. When he entered, he found three slain near the doorway, and the wolf who killed them had grabbed a small doe from where she had been hiding under the bed. He jerked his head up when Crane entered, but didn't have time to react before he was unconscious on the ground.
"Where are the other wolves?" he demanded of the doe, but she was shaking so bad that he regretted his tone.
"We don't know, mister." Another doe peeked her head out from what he assumed were their beds, although they were nothing more than wooden slats."A bunch of them left this morning. There are only a few left here."
"Did you see where the others went?" He asked softly.
"Towards the back of camp. They were leading a bunch of animals outta here. We hid but they found us." Replied the older of the two, fully coming out from their hiding spot.
"Stay here and stay quiet. I'll come back for you." He nodded to them and went full speed out of the door he had come in. He took to the skies, searching the camp for any signs of any survivors, but it was a ghost town. His only bet was trying to find the caravan of animals that the girls described.
The camp backed up to a massive forest, and was surrounded on all sides by ten foot wooden fences. Several tall buildings, that he could only assume served as guard towers, were stationed at different points in the fence. There must have been a dozen or so massive buildings, each housing different animals of different kinds. The number of bodies that lingered on the ground filled him with an outrage that he had never felt before. It was only his mission to find information that kept him from wanting to slaughter every wolf he saw.
He found himself following a trail of bodies, with more and more appearing as he continued on. "They must have been the ones who couldn't keep up." He said to himself.
Finally, he saw it. A massive, slow moving group that seemed ready to collapse. He knew he had to be careful, because they could start taking hostages if he confronted him out in the open. Then, he noticed it: a grey blur moving among the tree tops.
He sighed with relief.
Mei Ling was one of the stealthiest fighters he had ever met, quieter and quicker on her paws than even Tigress. He finally understood why Shifu had sent the four of them, because they were all the stealthiest of fighters. Mantis was nothing more than a green blur in the grass, Monkey could swing through tree tops quieter than most, and Mei Ling could move through the woods like they were her home. Crane was a guiding light for them, his flight telling them where they should go since he could see so much from afar.
By the time he landed, the others had taken care of the wolves.
Many of the animals, who were huddled close together, watched them with awe on their faces and fear in their eyes.
"My name is Mei Ling. We're friends here. We won't hurt you." The spotted leopard dipped her head and the group seemed to calm. "Do you know where they were taking you?"
"Lang Dao." An older Fennec fox came forward. Although he was small in size, the other animals parted for him, as though he were their superior. "I am Fiang. I provided spiritual consult to many of the people inside Ho Ching."
"Do you know where the other wolves went?" Monkey padded over, addressing Fiang.
"All I know is that they were called back to the Imperial City." He replied. "A few were left to get us to another camp and kill any of those who were too weak to walk on their own."
"I am sorry for your losses, all of you." Mei Ling replied. "With all due respect, we need to move. Once Bai Lang hears of this-" She trailed off.
"Do you have a place for us?" A mountain goat cried from where he stood near the Fennec.
"Yes and food, but we must get moving." The group seemed cheered at her reply, and they followed them eagerly.
As the group passed him, Crane found himself being embraced by several animals in thanks and happiness and every range of emotion. It lifted his heavy heart, somewhat, but he still felt as though the world were crushing him. It suddenly donned on him that he had forgotten about the does. He took off to the skies, this time avoiding flying over the camp and the bodies that he passed on his way to the group.
This time when he touched down, he felt slightly less apprehensive. He entered the barracks eagerly, and called for the two little does he had met earlier. They came out eagerly at the sound of his voice.
"Come, we need to get moving." He gestured for them to walk out of the barracks, but the older one of the girls stopped and looked at him curiously.
"Where are we going?"
"Some place safe." And the words made his heart feel light.
OoOoOoO
A/N: This is the part where I beg for your forgiveness at my late posting. Shit has been crazy. I don't own anything. Love you guys. Boomie out