Sho, King of the Bandits
The procession marched on through bamboo forests and big banyan trees. The sun rose slowly over the leaves, sending dancing shadows onto Wolf's eyes. He would pause for a split moment, shutting his eyes, letting the shadows dart across his eyelids, and then open them again to see the path in front of him. "Something's not right," Po mumbled.
"I'll say. You haven't complained about food for a while. You okay, Po?" Monkey jabbed.
"No, I mean... ugh never mind," Po muttered. Sometimes talking to Monkey wasn't the best thing to do. As the warriors walked on either side of Wolf, they heard the guards in the front and back mumbling things.
"So what's the deal with the wolf?"
"Whatever he did, I heard he's one of the strongest people in the world. Probably stronger than that tiger warrior."
"Master Tigress? No way!"
"I heard he tried to kill the Emperor." Po saw the wolf grunt and roll his eyes.
"I heard he's from the far west part of China. That's he's an ancient warrior gone rouge."
"Well, I've heard that felines have a knack for him. Especially the big cats." Po saw the wolf darting his eyes, not like a trickster or a villain but... was he... blushing?
Po looked Wolf once over. His bare chest and fur had been sucked out of their sheen. He hunched forward a bit, but that might have been caused by the heavy cuffs around his hands and ankles. His pants were dirty, black, and tattered with grime from the cave.
Po sighed. There were too many questions in his head. "I wonder why Mr. Three warned us against your enemies," He said to Wolf. The dog just sighed in response.
Suddenly, Wolf stopped. His eyes narrowed and scanned the woods. Not a sound; the soldiers had stopped too. Fierce lines scrunched up Wolf's muzzle, and his ears perked up. "Oi! Why ya stopping!" Shouted the guard. "Get that dog goin'!"
"Shhh!" Po hushed. "You hear that, Monkey?"
"Yeah, but where is it?" Po and Monkey looked all around but couldn't find the source. It grew louder and closer. Then all of a sudden, it stopped. "Well, whatever it was, it's gone now," said Monkey. Po looked at Wolf whose eyes peered into the dark thickets of the bamboo forest.
Bark BARK!
"Over there!" A figure darted out of the forest and into the sky, casting its large shadow over the guarded procession.
"RAAAHHHHHHH!"
"Look out!" Po pushed Wolf and Monkey out of the way. An earthquake ripped through the ground. Through dust clouds, Po saw a huge brown bear with a giant longhammer slung across his shoulders. The guards tumbled to their faces as a swing of the bear's hammer split the earth. A crack ran towards the soldiers and dirt rolled over them in large heaps of earth. The huge bear stood with his longhammer stretched across his arms as he listened to the guards' delightful songs of agony.
Po coughed, "Are you guys okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Monkey said. Wolf nodded and glared at the large brown bear. Po spun around. "Who the heck is that!"
"It's Sho, the king of the bandits," Po said. Sho laughed.
"Ha! Look at that, street cred! I'll be more famous than Shen in a week." Wolf silently snarled, glaring murder into the bear's skull. "Aww don't be like that pipsqueak," Sho said. "An ungrateful brat like you should be begging for me to free you."
"You'll have to get through us," Monkey said, as he and Po got into their fighting stances.
"Haha, with pleasure," Sho sneered. Monkey launched himself at the bear, kicking his gut. Sho didn't fling. As Monkey struck Sho's foot and arm, the brown bear simply grabbed the simian by the tail, spun him around in the air, and toss him back to Po.
"Monkey!" The panda caught his friend just in time. "Are you okay?"
Monkey coughed up the spit from his mouth and clutched his rear. "Yeah, this guy is tough."
"The bigger they are," Po jumped and roundhouse kicked Sho's face.
He didn't flinch.
"Uh oh," Po muttered. The bandit grinned and punched Po straight in the gut. "WAHHHHHOOOFF!" The panda flew back, smashing into a bamboo reed. "The harder they hit you."
"Po!" Monkey shouted. "Are you okay?" Po's head rang and his back tingled. Then he looked up.
"Monkey! Look out!"
Monkey turned around, and Sho smacked him with the flat of his hammer. Monkey's body broke through several bamboo shoots and laid motionless.
"MONKEY!" Po grunted to his feet. "Alright, no more mister nice panda."
"Hehe. I'll be honest, I'm impressed. Most people would faint from that punch," Sho smirked, towering over Po. "Your monkey friend... heck, I'd surprise if his heart doesn't stop." Po gritted his teeth and ran at the villain. Sho's hammer struck the ground, but Po jumped out the way, ducking under the handle. He rammed his fist into... a very interesting area on the bear. Wolf winced looking at it.
"OOOOOOOO!" Sho dropped his hammer and fell to his knees. "Alright... that was a cheap shot."
"This is for my friend!" Po shouted, kicking Sho across the face. But the bear's head didn't even move. "Oh no."
"Hahahaha," Sho punched the panda back. Po tumbled and stumbled to the ground. The world span before him. The pain in Po's gut throbbed too much. Sho grabbed his longhammer and got back up. "And you're supposed to be the Dragon Warrior? Ha! You don't know the first thing about true strength." He lifted his hammer high into the air. "Maybe you'll find it in the next life." The hammer swung down. Po shut his eyes.
Nothing.
"Huh? Where's the squish?"
"Huh?" Po opened his eyes and saw Wolf, still chained, holding Sho's longhammer with one hand.
"Oh, it's you," Sho grumbled. The wolf's eyes bore into the ursine bandit. "Out of the way, kid. This isn't your business."
"GRRRRR."
"Growl all you like. It doesn't make a difference," Sho grunted. He lifted his hammer. "They'll just blame you and replace the guards." Sho swung his hammer again.
Wolf kicked the bear back, knocking the hammer out of his hand. "WAHHHHH!" Sho flew back into a boulder, and as he rubbed his head, Wolf threw his hammer like a frisbee, embedding it right above Sho's head into the boulder. "Yipe!"
"GRRRR," Wolf growled and crouched down. His red eyes burned in rage as his fur stood on the tip of his body. Po's jaw dropped. He could feel an aura wafting off the wolf's body, strong and dominating, able to kill with a single look.
"Alright, alright!" Sho grunted. "I get it! I'll stop." He pulled up himself with his hurt pride and looked around the field of groaning guards. "I think I've done enough damage anyway." Sho yanked the hammer out of the rock and slung it over his shoulders. He glanced at Po, whose eyes were closed as he laid still on the ground. "Have a nice time trying to get out of this one, brat. I hope you like Chor-Gom." Laughing, Sho took one jump and disappeared into the bamboo forest.
The black wolf looked around, surveying the damage. The guards, still groaning from the pain, struggled to get up. "Monkey!" Wolf spun his head around and saw Po by Monkey. "Monkey, are you okay? Speak to me!" Po carried Monkey's body back to where Wolf stood, placed him on the ground. "Please, say something, Monkey." Wolf stopped him for a moment. He placed his ear to Monkey's chest. The silence was agonizing, but the wolf finally sighed. "Is he alive?" Po asked tearfully. Wolf nodded. Using his healing Qi technique, Po's glowing hands hovered over his friend until he heard Monkey groaning and grunting. "Are you okay, bud?"
"Yeah," Monkey muttered weakly. "Ugh, I'm gonna feel that for a month. What happened to Sho? Did you... did you defeat him?"
"What? No I-" Po caught a sight of Wolf pressing a finger to his own lips. "I..." Wolf shook his head. "No... I mean, Yeah. I did."
"H-H-How?" Monkey grunted and winced in pain.
"Don't worry about that, buddy. We have to get you better," Po said, carrying his friend up as the guards slowly crawled to their feet.
"Ugh, what happened?" The guard bumbled.
Po narrowed his eyes at him. "Mr. Three was right. You guys are bad guards." The guard mumbled hurt. "Help some of your men. I'll make sure my friend is okay first, then I'll take care of you guys." Po briefly glanced at the black wolf who hunched back to his meek saddened composure.
Nighttime seemed to appear in a flash as Po sat and stoaked the campfire. Monkey was resting in the tent while the guards noisily slumbered. "Urgh, I'm beat," Po muttered. After healing Monkey, he had helped heal all of the guards for the rest of the day. Now, they made camp to rest for the night.
But if Po was tired, he would have gone to bed. The campsite sat next to a hill-size rock, where the canine prisoner rested his back. Wolf stared endlessly into the fire with crossed arms and a frown that wouldn't go away. Po's eyes darted from the fire to the dog and back to the fire. "Uugh!" Po cried out, grabbing Wolf's attention. "I can't take it anymore!" Po got up and sat right next to Wolf. "Hi, I'm Po. Alright, we got the intro out of the way. How in the world did you beat Sho with just one hand!" Po exclaimed. "I mean, Monkey and I were struggling, and then you just Wapow! And stopped the guy's hammer like it was nothing! I mean... who are you?"
Wolf simply sat there, silently blinking with wide eyes. Po sighed, "Right, you don't talk much. Okay, what about yes or no questions? You answer those, right?" Wolf blinked twice and then shrugged. "Okay, are you really a criminal?"
Wolf shrugged. "Oh come on, give me something," Po whined. The wolf gave the slightest, smallest smile Po had ever seen. "Can you tell me... somehow why you're in prison?" Wolf shook his head. "Why not?" The wolf's smile widened just a hint, raising his eyebrow. "Right," Po said with a fallen face, "Yes or no." He tapped his finger on his chin. "Okay, what about this? Do you... You're pretty strong." The wolf nodded. "Do you... think I can be that strong... too?"
The wolf jerked his head back. Did he hear the panda right? He scanned the black and white bear over. Probably a second past before the dog just shrugged. "No, no, no! Don't give me that 'Or sure if you put your mind to it.' shrug... thing!" Po said in a high-pitched voice. "I need to know. I'm the Dragon Warrior. I want to get stronger, but I don't know if I can. Can I get stronger like you? Or at least," Po paused, gazing at Monkey's tent, "at least strong enough to save my friends?"
The black wolf stared as the calm breeze swept through the camp. Po knew why he was taking so long. After looking at Sho's size and strength, could he even be on the same playing field? And what about what Platon said. Was the lion just born stronger? "I mean, what if I'm not strong enough? What if I'm no good and I let down my friends and-"
"Hm," Wolf interrupted. Po looked at him and saw him nodding his head.
"What?" Po asked. The wolf nodded again. "What, are you... are you saying yes? Can I... do you think I can do it?"
"Hm," Wolf nodded. The panda blinked a few times, slow and thoughtful. Then he broke into a huge smile.
"AWESOME! HAHA! Look out world! I'm gonna make Sho look like a punch dummy!"
Wolf smiled a bit, watching the panda do air punches in his hype mood. But then Po suddenly stopped and all merriment disappeared from his face.
"Oh no! We can't put you in Chor-Gom. Sho will just bust you out and make you look bad." Wolf's eyes widened. So he had heard what Sho said. "And if one guy can do that to royal guards, I hate to see what an army of him can do." Po stroked his chin, thoughtfully staring at the slowly dying fire. Wolf waited for the idea. Soon, an uneasy grimace crossed Po's face. "I've got an idea. But the others aren't gonna like it."
Continued...
