32. Honor or Family

"Come out with our Tori immediately!" Ravan ordered from the roof.

Zedong inclined his head when he heard that. "Tori?"

"They mean me," Dao explained with a scowl.

"Or we'll massacre those two!" the panther continued to yell at them.

"NO!" Liu screamed. "Please! Then take me! But leave the little one alone!"

"Don't worry," Po tried to calm her down. "We'll take care of that." Although he didn't know how. A hostage or two, or even more, was always bad. Especially when a sick child was also involved.

Yin-Yu wrapped Liu in her wings for comfort, while Po nervously scratched his head, losing more hair that was stuck to it. Seeking help, he first looked at Ping and Pong, who just looked helpless and shocked. King Wang didn't think a direct attack was a good solution either, as did the old goat. And Sheng and Liana didn't look very confident. Eventually, Po's gaze lingered over his friends. "What do we do now? Too stupid. The masters have returned to the palace. We are on our own now."

Tigress nodded, but before she could say anything as the next-leading member, Ravan continued to yell, growing impatient. "I know you're here!" he yelled. "Come here or I'll pluck her feathers!"

Everyone watched in horror as the panther held the white chick upside down in his paw.

"Ravan stop it!" Dao yelled in Japanese. "You can have me!"

"Wait, wait, Dao," Po held him back, guessing what Dao had said. "We'll definitely find another solution."

"And which one?"

That silenced Po at first. An attack was impossible and there was no time for an ambush. And a counter offer… no, they had nothing on the ninjas. At most, they would threaten Dao's life...

"Then we'll pretend we'll hurt you, if they hurt them."

Dao narrowed his eyes. "Ravan isn't stupid."

"And if we send someone else... just for a moment, to buy time. Or if we ask for a period of reflection..."

"We don't have that time!" Dao interrupted him excitedly. "Never mind, I go voluntarily."

Po swallowed hard. "Listen, you don't have to do this. Otherwise everything had been in vain."

Dao avoided his gaze for a moment, but then he shook his head. "No matter what they do to me, I only care that the little one comes out of it safely."

"What now?!" Ravan's voice rang out to them again. "Shall I count to three?"

"No! I'm coming!" Immediately, Dao ran forward, but in the next moment something jumped in his way and pushed him to the ground. "No, you will not!"

Po looked at Shen in surprise. "Oh, you are back very soon..."

A cutting look from Shen and Po immediately pursed his lips.

But Dao quickly regained his composure and pushed his older brother aside. "Are you going to dictate everything to me again?"

Undeterred by this, Shen grabbed Dao's wings. "You want them to drug you again to be their battle puppet?"

"What else can I do? If I don't, she'll die. I know Ravan, he will not hesitate with his threats."

But that wasn't what concerned Shen. "I won't let you throw your life away for dad's other thing."

Dao knew immediately that Shen meant Xiang. He jumped up angrily. "If I'm not doing it for him, then at least for her."

Shen narrowed his eyes angrily. "She's not even really related to you. She's just your half-niece."

"Even if she wasn't part of the family, I don't want her to die!"

Shen folded his wings. "And how do you know it's worth it? Who knows, she might not be just as corrupted as her father."

Dao narrowed his eyes. "Are you any better?"

Shen seemed to have expected something like this. His beak trembled for a moment before he gave Dao a shove. "At least I'm taking care of the family now! And for the honor!"

"Since when do you care about family honor?"

"Now I do it!"

"And why not then?!"

"Family meant very little back then." Shen looked down slightly. "When I found out what was about to happen, I hoped my parents would help me. But they didn't." For a moment, Shen felt a deep sadness. "They did nothing after she said my future." His reproachful gaze wandered to Ān-Mā, who bowed her head in embarrassment. But that couldn't calm Shen against the anger that was now building up again. "Father left me with this problem. He even pretended that nothing had happened, so I acted myself. Tell me if family meant anything to him."

"How can you say that? But mother said otherwise. She even liked you better than me."

"I only found out about that later!"

"Why didn't you just live normally afterwards? You knew what could happen. Then why did you just keep going?"

For a moment, it looked as if Shen would back down, but then he lifted his head defiantly. "You have no idea what I've had to go through!"

"Then tell me!"

"Forget it!"

"Fine! You've done enough damage to the family honor as it is." His gaze wandered to the small children. "But I had a family for a fraction at least." There was silence for a few seconds before Dao finished. "At least I think I'm making the right decision. In contrast to you. Now get out of my way!"

Violently, Dao pushed his brother aside and Shen let him go, but he continued to look after him with a bitter expression on his face. Ān-Mā shook her head wistfully, and wished she had never seen the future.

Meanwhile, Dao swung himself onto the nearest roof and with a few quick leaps over the houses he finally stood in front of Ravan, who grinned broadly at him. "Apparently you are faster crawling back than running away, huh?"

Dao narrowed his eyes. "I wouldn't have stayed away if I knew what you're doing to a kid."

Ravan snorted and snapped his fingers. Immediately, the other black ninja panthers rushed over and held Dao tight. The peacock did not resist. His gaze was only directed at the white peachick, which hung limp in the panther's paw. "Well, you have me. Now give them back to the others."

Raven laughed. "That's up to you."

Everyone screamed when the panther threw the child through the air and it disappeared somewhere between the houses.

Po narrowed his eyes.

No, that couldn't be true!

Dao tried to break away with all his might, but the panthers brutally pressed him onto the roof. "YOU BASTARD! What have you done?!"

But instead of an answer, he only received a resounding slap in the face from the leader. "I'll teach you not to run away."

Dao pushed himself up with all his might, but Ravan raised his paw admonishingly. "And I advise you not to fuss, or the other bird will be just as bad." He paused as he gestured down the alley below, but it was empty. "Hey, where's the other one?"

For a moment, everyone was paralyzed with shock. Only Po overcame himself to start running. "I will look!"

The panda raced as fast as he could between the houses to where the peachick had disappeared. Maybe she landed softly somewhere. But if not… Po narrowed his eyes briefly. No, he didn't want and couldn't see a dead child!

Arriving at a small courtyard, he looked around hastily. "Where are you?!" He ducked his head anxiously. "Are you here?"

"Po?"

The panda whirled around when he heard a woman's voice behind him. "Xia? Have you seen the child?!"

The peahen raised one wing. "Take it easy, Po. I caught her."

She turned her other wing, in which the little white peachick lay curled up. Po's knees went weak and he had to sit on the floor.

"Po, everything alright?" asked Monkey, who had followed him.

"Yes… yes, everything is fine. Call the others!"

Immediately, Monkey turned around while Po slowly recovered from the shock. "Is everything okay with her?"

"I hope so." Worried, Xia rocked the child, who still showed little reaction, as if it hadn't even really noticed the fall.

It wasn't long before the others came running. Liu was completely distraught. It wasn't until she felt her little daughter in the wings again that she burst into tears. With difficulty, she managed to say "thank you", which Xia accepted with a smile. "It's okay, I have nothing against her," giving her father an uncertain look.

Po looked sideways at Shen. But the white ruler gave no indication that he had even been remotely concerned about the child. But before Po could ask him about it, he had another question. "Where's Crane?"

"I got him out of there," Xia said quickly. "These guys were so focused on their leader's roar that I jerked him away."

"That was pretty dangerous," Yin-Yu said worriedly. "They could have killed you."

Xia put it off. "Did they?"

Ravan let out a derisive snort. "However. We have what we want. We no longer need a hostage."

"Hey, Ravan," one of the ninjas piped up. "While we're here, we can also get a little compensation from the Jade Palace."

Ravan thought for a moment. "Hm, that would have been worth at least a trip to China. Why shouldn't it be worthwhile for us too? Heard the kung fu club stored a lot of expensive valuables."

"They plucked all his flight feathers!" Po scolded after they had reached Crane, who was lying in a hidden side street. At least the feathered kung fu warrior wasn't badly hurt. He had only just been hit in the shoulder with an arrow, but Po's anger welled up. "If I catch them..."

"Po, we're lucky nothing worse happened," Tigress stopped him.

"Yeah, but... Hey, where are they running to now?"

He watched in amazement as the ninja gang raced up the mountain.

"Looks like they're going to the palace," Mantis said.

"But why?" Monkey wondered. "They got what they wanted."

A bad suspicion arose in Po. "They have often plundered villages. They are the purest thieves. They can only be after the valuables in the palace." He swallowed. "And they will even stop at nothing for that."

"And what about the masters?" Viper asked concerned. "Do you think they can handle them?" She looked questioningly at Po.

The Dragon Warrior shrugged. "I'm not sure about this. Even I lost to them. Or at least against Dao… Oh dear! What if they take Dao as a hostage now? Then they would have the others at bay to keep them in check. Oh my, maybe they will even hold out Dao as a living shield."

At that moment, they could hear the little chick squeaking softly. Liu looked at it with concern. Ān-Mā also looked deeply concerned.

"But what do we do now?" Xia asked.

Mantis vibrated his antennas. "In any case, Crane can no longer fly it in this state."

Po snapped his fingers. "Hey. How about the eagle you flew here with?" He looked expectantly at Ān-Mā.

"It's no use, Po," Xia objected.

"Why not?"

"On the way, I met an eagle that looked pretty bad. I've already informed the doctor. But it certainly won't fly."

Zedong, who had been listening in silence to the adults' conversation, shook his feathers angrily. "Do they have a problem with birds?"

Po rubbed his chin gloomily. "I think there's some truth to that."

"We could ask one of the village geese if anyone can fly her," Fantao suggested, who now also wanted to say something.

"Wait!" Mr. Pong intervened. "Liana! She's fast. She often had to fly food to others on express deliveries."

Everyone looked at Pong in surprise, then their eyes wandered to Liana, who looked a bit surprised.

"Gongmen isn't just around the corner, though," Monkey pointed out.

"Do you have a better idea?" Pong asked.

Everyone fell silent. Sheng looked at Liana. "Do you feel up to it?"

Liana hesitantly moved her beak lips. "Well… I can try."

Ān-Mā looked up at Liu. "Is it also in your interest?"

Liu hugged the child tightly. "Only if she promises to take good care of her."

Liana nodded. "I certainly will."

Mr. Pong clapped his wings. "Then we shouldn't waste any time..."

"Shen, where are you going?" he was suddenly interrupted by Po.

Everyone watched in amazement as Shen took his spear sword, apparently he had gotten it while the others were busy with Crane and the chick.

Shen gave the panda a disdainful look. "Where to?"

Quickly, Po walked up to him. "But I thought... but Dao just said that you... Ah!" Stunned, the panda touched his re-existing bald head, which Shen had administered to him with his feather knife.

"I know what he said!" Shen snapped at the panda. "And I don't care what you say. I'll get my brother back!"

Po took a step back. "This could be dangerous." He took another step back as Shen narrowed his eyes evilly, raising his spear sword. "If he wants proof that I care about family, let him have it. Unlike others who just hole up and he doesn't care what becomes of his kid."

Po looked at him sadly. "Xiang is just in shock. He would definitely do something for his family if he could."

Shenmi, who was standing right next to Po, also looked at her father in concern.

"May I come with you?" Zedong asked excitedly.

But Shen rejected him. "You stay here! The same goes for you, too", and pointed to the other children admonishingly.

"But I can come with you," Sheng intervened instead. "After all, I'm kung fu runner-up. Then that will be allowed after all."

At first, it looked like Shen wanted to stop him as well, but then he sighed deeply. "Alright. But I'll take care of Dao."

With that, Shen turned and ran away. Sheng wanted to follow him, but before that he turned to Liana. "Are you sure you can take her to Gongmen City?"

Liana put him off. "Don't worry. I'll manage it."

Sheng nodded. "Okay. But take good care of yourself. I'm sorry I can't go with you."

Liana smiled. "It's okay," knowing full well that peacocks weren't good at flying and were not made for long-haul flights. She gasped in surprise when Sheng hugged her tightly once, gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, then he hurried away.

Po looked puzzled. "Wow, that was quick."

"Po, we should go up there, too," Tigress suggested.

Po let out a deep sigh. "Shen certainly won't want that."

"Po!" Tigress rebuked him. "It's our palace they're attacking. We have every right to do so!"

First, Po looked at her with wide eyes. Then he nodded. "Okay, good point. Here we go! See you then, dad! I'm right back!"

Mr. Ping looked after him worriedly. "I really hope so."

"Come on, brother," Pong said. "We have to prepare a flight."

"So it's tight." Yin-Yu wasted no time and hurriedly strapped the chick onto Liana's back so that the goose carried her like a small backpack. Mr. Ping had packed a snack and Pong a flight route map.

"Take good care of yourself," her father told her. "And don't worry. Just do it like you always do. It's like you're sending the food to someone."

Liana nodded. "It's okay, father. I'll make it."

Pong quickly made way for Yin-Yu and Liu, who also wanted to send her good luck on the flight. They both hugged her tightly.

"Don't worry. I'm careful," Liana reassured her.

Finally, she got ready to take off. She took a run and flapped her wings vigorously. As soon as she managed to get off the ground, she immediately set course for Gongmen City, but she didn't fail to take one last look at the Jade Palace, which seemed to tower peacefully over the valley.

"So then we'll go hunting for prey again," Ravan said, rubbing his paws expectantly. They were almost halfway there. "Once in a while a change of air in another country is good."

"I'm not going to join you anymore!" Dao protested, still squirming in the others' grips.

Ravan snorted in amusement. "I thought so, that's why I brought you something from Japan." Dao froze in his pose as the panther pulled out a bottle of liquid. Ravan grinned triumphantly. "Time for your medicine, little Tori."