Monkey noticed a pig making headway towards them. Lazing about in one spot finally had its consequences, and now they were most certainly noticed. "Hey, guys…"

Upon the rousing of his companions, Ju Lung gestured for them to remain still. "Don't be looking all worried now, kids. That pork is walking information."

"Wait, wait, wait. You already have insiders?" Crane asked.

"Yep."

"So why do we have to sneak in?"

Ju Lung's eyes never looked away from the approaching stranger. "He's only a half-step less clueless than me. I've got a whole network of fools in there, but what they bring back isn't enough. These people know how to keep their connections close. Mr. Helping Pig over there can't even board the ship. He can't open any box either, unless he wants to get whipped."

After some time, the agent entered the underbrush with them. Ju Lung lowered his head to allow the pig to whisper in his ear. In just a few seconds, the bear's bright countenance fell away, as if something dispiriting had been said.

The hog faced the rest of the team. "May the universe be on your side." Withdrawing from their refuge completely, he had left only Ju Lung with a monopoly of information, and the choice to impart it among his peers.

The bear dwelled for a while. "Dammit!"

"What! What?" Monkey grabbed his arm, pulling him down for his full attention. "Why the reaction?"

"Get the hell off me." Ju Lung shoved the simian away. "The ship is delayed. It ain't going out today, it's going out tomorrow. You know what that means? Hmm? Do you? That means daylight on all your stupid fucking faces. You don't fit in. You just can't."

"Hey… I'm sure that's fine." Hands gracing down along his own body, Mantis accentuated his size. "Look at me, I'm still sneaking material."

All together, the group turned and bore their sights down upon the diminutive warrior, assessing him and what he had just put forward. Within the group, he was already barely noticed—and that was demonstrated by how much he'd set himself behind the group's prompt huddle. He'd practically be invisible if one was not aware of his existence.

"Mantis." Ju Lung bent on one knee, trying vainly to address the bug at his level. "How about you be a good boy and fetch a few things for us."

"Of course! Gotta have this size put into good use, right?"

"Yeppers! Now…" the bear reoriented himself so that he could point at the distant sidelines of the shore. "You see those boxes over there? Find out what they got. Come back, and tell us."

The bug nodded. "Of course, of course."

"I'm not done yet. Afterwards, you can go into the ship and get some more information. As much as possible, keep coming back to us. We don't want to lose all that much intel all at once if you get caught, right?"

"Well…" Mantis was a little more hesitant at this request. Studying the grand esplanade, he saw several hundred locations upon which he could plot a flag of objective. His mind's eye constructed a map of routes, checkpoints and zones, and he could render it all atop the live battlement. He had a certain skill of reading environments like they were the simple schematic of a board game. And just like any good player, he could sense his own defeat steps beforehand.

"Well?" The bear pressured on when it had been a few seconds of silence.

Mantis sighed. He knew he had no choice either way. "Yeah, okay. I'll do it."

"Then scuttle along now." Dismissive and moving quickly, Ju Lung immediately turned to the rest of the group. "As for the rest of you, we need to do what we call an allocation of labor. We can't all be hanging back here."

"So what do you propose?" Tigress tightened her cross-armed brace.

The bear browsed across the line of warriors. "We split into two. I've just decided to go on a little side mission, and I need to have one pal with me." Upon laying his eyes on Crane, he stopped his gazing. "You, Cluckers. You're it."

Tigress blew. "What, no!"

"And why not?"

A protective hand struck out before the bird's chest. "I'm responsible for their lives. Including Crane's."

"Bah. You can look out for yourself first." The bear decoupled the duo by pushing himself in between them. "Now come on Cluckers. Let's get to work."

"Please never call Cluckers. My name is Crane." As the bear's massive paw began pushing him off the clearing and back into the dense screen of trees surrounding them, the bird looked over and gave Tigress an assured nod.

"Hey!" She tried to call out one last time, watching them disappear in the forest contexture. It was hard to be assertive while remaining in quietude.

"And now... there's three of us." Monkey whispered.

Defeated, Tigress fell back on the boulder behind her. "Indeed."


Potions, potions, potions.

In the process of unlidding another container, Mantis could already hear the glass contents rattling. The sound avouched enough, and he shut the box without ever looking at what was inside. "More potions."

The platform he stood on started to move. He climbed down the hill of crates and promptly dismounted from the carriage all together, hiding beneath a parked rickshaw.

The cargo that was now being hauled back into the ship was the last to remain out in the open. As the process of loading the boat was beginning to come to an end, everything on the waterfront became significantly more dispersed. A dwindled scattering of torchlights faintly illuminated the small groups of soldiers setting up camp for the night. Those who were not relieved from duty were up above on the ship, patrolling along the portside.

A lonely breeze swept some sand aloft, forming half-visible ribbons that swirled around the bug. The shore was tranquil enough for him to detect even the slightest shifts in the wind. There was nothing left to investigate here-as far as he believed, and this left him with the second stage of the process: reporting back at homefield.

Mantis returned to some stash of samples he'd managed to retrieve and set aside. A map, an iron emblem, and the potion: they weren't much, and they were barely probative either, but they were the only ones that had some peculiarity. Inside those vast valleys of crates, there contained items of little variation.

They were all just potions.

Before he could proceed, the bug looked up at the ship once more. Its enormity had only taken him a few seconds to get acclimated to the first moment he saw it. In his world, everything continued to be large and imposing; he learned to never truly fear these traits. But making one thing irrelevant only placed equal importance on its substitute. Enigma was what had been made prominently factorable in the way he thought about many things. The ship now just daunted him.

What the hell are they planning?


Tigress lifted the bottle to the beams of moonlight that strayed through the foliage's dotted perforations. Noticing that the liquid inside responded to her slightest movement by producing torrents of excessive magnitude, she capacitated its utmost reactiveness with an experimental flourish. The substance swirled, spritzed, frothed, and expanded, pressing against the glass that contained it.

"Some water." Mantis muttered. He was atop her shoulder the whole time. "Hey, you think we can drink that?"

Seemingly out of nowhere, Monkey jumped up and swiped the potion out of her grasp. "I will!"

"Monkey no!" They both said at once.

Heedless, he popped the cap off and took a full sip.

"Are you crazy!" Viper hurriedly slithered by him, slapping the back of his head. The simian choked from her sudden force, but the jerk had successfully gotten him to stop.

"Just a lil crazy" Monkey smacked his lips, sucking in the last residue of poison from his tongue. "On the bright side, I know what it is! It's in the taste. It's a sort of sleep-inducing agent, I believe from a valerian plant mixed with other solutions. If I had a little more, I'd probably be sleeping right on this spot."

Tigress swiftly took the bottle from him. "And how do you know this?"

"When I was still as broke as a hobo, I had several gigs. One of them was drinking samples from this alchemist. Hoo hoo! Those were the good days."

Mantis leaned into Tigress, whispering. "No wonder he's kind of coo coo."

"And for what grand purpose is this all for." Rushi spoke. "Little insect bug, you mentioned that this substance is what's all in those boxes, yes?"

He wasn't very amused at the words she had just labeled him with. "Yeah sure."

"So there's possibly thousands of these." She drummed her fingers against her chin. "Why?"

"I don't know right now. But, tell you what. I'll go to the ship and find out for myself."

"No. Mantis. You stay with us. No more sneaking." Tigress caught the bug with pinched fingers just as he hopped off of her shoulder. "We need to be more preemptive about this. Look at the site. Look at what they have, and look how many people are guarding it. There's obviously some great significance in this delivery, and I don't think we should allow it to go anywhere."

"So what do you suggest? Straight up fight them?" Tung said.

"If we don't, we'll just allow the enemy to purchase the knife he'll use to stab us with." Shifting towards Tigress, Rushi took the vial and studied it herself. The substance expanded her face into a prominent fisheye as she looked through it. "Plus, we know now that this knocks people out. Perhaps we can use this against them."

"So it's war then?" Tung was immediately drawn to her suggestion, unsheathing his sword.

"Wow wow wow. Guys, this is ridiculous." Mantis resummited Tigress' shoulder and made large swinging gestures to get their attention. "Like, can you guys not see where this will lead up to?"

The bull groaned. "Yeah. Like I said. War."

"That's cute. But no."

"Then what then? Rushi is right. If we don't attack now, we'd let them win. Hmm? What's your plan little guy?"

Mantis held his arms out inoffensively, trying to temper the quickly rising tension. "Right. Yes yes. I understand I sound like an idiot right now. But listen, there is a specific time to strike. I don't know that time, but I do know it isn't this moment. There's just too many problems here-"

"List them." Rushi defied.

"Okay. Uhm… first. We can't kill… —well at least four of us can't. It's an unwritten kung fu obligation. Right Tigress?"

She nodded mutely.

"And you?" The bug pointed at the two hoodlum fighters. "Can you do the killing?"

"It's pretty messed up. So, no man." Rushi muttered.

"See? In conclusion, we're a bunch of losers who can't finish the deed. Say we win. We got a whole beach full of knocked out soldiers, ready to rise from their comatose any second. Rushi, can we perhaps trust the city jail nearby?"

"No we cann-"

"No we cannot!" The bug led on, keeping the flow of attention directed to his speech alone. "So where's the nearest good hearted prison, you may ask. A few hundred miles away probably. Okay, let's problem solve: how are six of us going to move all of them all the way out there?"

"You know what? I don't know. But it doesn't matter if they're imprisoned or not. We can destroy the ship—the stuff in it. That's all we need to do." The golden cat said.

"And I could argue that we could do even more. If we don't act irrationally."

There was a moment of silence while many things were being considered. Each member of the group cultivated some sort of idea, but those ideas remained half-baked and unspoken. Tigress had been meaning to find something comprehensive, building upon some thoughts, dashing out faulty ones. But as the incommunicable silence between them started having a hopeless weight to it, she knew that the moment was too urgent to have something perfect in mind.

The tiger stepped forward, finally taking an active role in the discussion. "There is something."

"Oooh what is it?" Monkey asked.

"Some prisons receive royalties from the Jade Palace. They're financially tied to our treasury, so in all logical sense they should be loyal to us. Some of those prisons might happen to be by ports." She fell to her knees, grabbing the map that Mantis had retrieved from the shore and unfurling it. The chart was nearly abstract - as it was exterritorial and nearly unmarked - but the small eastward arrow drawn in charcoal gave it some form of navigational purpose. Vague as the symbol may have been, eastward was still eastward: she traced a rigid finger along the convex of China's right coast. "Tung. Do you know how many days they're usually out of the city in trips like this?"

"Three days. Strictly."

"A travel that's more than a day out?" Viper turned her head back at the poison that Rushi was still holding, thoughtful. "That's a lot of meals they're going to have to go through."

Tigress stopped her rummaging finger, marking a location with a tap. "Anxi Zhi Prison. Here by this shore. We'll take them there. We'll board the ship, wait a while. Knock them out."


The wolves' greatest guilty pleasure was the piss tree.

There were a million other trees surrounding them, blatantly out there for their convenience. But the act of urinating wasn't just to relieve bladders-it was for power. The piss tree had become a battle ground. Every wolf who needed to assert himself gravitated towards this very landmark to claim his temporary dominance. It's sooner than later that his markings would be washed away by somebody else's new scent, but this perpetual reclamation of power is what made it addictive to everyone.

The irony was that this apparent beacon of territorial strength had also been turned into one of the wolves' most vulnerable spots.

"You heard what the foreman said Guang?"

The wolf turned his head to the tiger, still in the act of urinating. It was just before the break of dawn; they were supposed to be out and ready by the shore, but he felt the need to risk it all and be the last man to claim his mark. "Yeah I did. Bad news."

"Shit on crap news. I'm planning to start a fight with that Liang guy." Uptight, the feline started pacing around. "Li-ung, lee-ang, li li, ly-lee. Even their name is stupid! Ohh I really hate them. I'm going to do it. I'm going to kick him across China."

Guang chuckled. "Don't get ahead of yourself. Your mom still wants a visit from you."

"She forgot about me by now for sure. She's all too comfied up in that nursing home."

"A wench house is not a nursing home."

He stopped his march, putting a redoubled emphasis on what the wolf had just said. "Hey now. For the record, there's a lot of rich doctors going to that place. It's a damn good nursing home I'll tell you. It's not in the name, but it's in the staffing."

"If you insist." Guang turned his head back to the tree, but he never disengaged. "Still can't believe you got her out of Bishou Chi man - that city."

The Tiger smirked. "Well yeah, I'm kind of a genius."

"You're gonna have to tell me how you did that, yeah?"

"Aw man. I will for sure. But let me tell you…"

Sudden silence.

After a moment of waiting, the wolf finally checked in, looking over. "Hey Chao? You gonna finish or—"

But there was no Chao: ahead of him was an abandoned clearing.

There was rustle in the bushes behind him.

"Who's there?" The moment Guang turned again, a hoof extended out and hit him flat against his face. He scorpioned to the ground, instantly knocked out.

Monkey ran up to the dazed wolf and was immediately blinded by what he saw. "Oh man Tung! You could've at least waited for him to pull his pants up before you caved his head in."


Their successful take-down of several workers had allowed them access to the enemy's full-body armor. Working past each phase of their operation aggressively, they already began stripping the thugs off their heavily stratified padding and metal plates. The night was transitioning into a blue morning. Blades of orange sunlight jutted from the east.

Mantis was scuttling about, inspecting each member work on their attire. It was by looking around that he had finally opened his awareness. "Hey, I just noticed. Where the heck is Crane?"

Tigress slowly stopped her meddling. She could only admit to the truth after a few hesitant seconds. "He's… off, with Ju Lung. Somewhere else."

"What! Why? That's not good. We can't just leave him with him."

"He'll be fine." Tung fitted his helmet. "Ju Lung takes good care of people. After this, we can meet them back at the tavern."

"It's my fault. I should have said no." Tigress fiddled with a thieved shoulder plate before she had the half-hearted drive to move along and wear it.

Mantis muttered. "Ah well, he's a big boy. Let's just hope he'll be alrigh-"

"Holy hell. I feel like I'm wearing a block of cement!" Rushi strained to get her chestplate through her shoulders. "How do they even manage all this? They must be sweating swimming pools."

"And diving in it." Monkey opened a bag for Viper and Mantis to slide in.

The bug popped his head out just before completely moving inside. "Hey. Maybe I could swim in them pools too."

"No, that's disgusting." The simian pulled on the drawstrings, abruptly choking the bug with the tightened hem.

A calling horn sounded from the distance, which indicated that the port laborers were already at their next phase of operation.

No longer sparing time, Tung crawled to the scarce of the treeline. The rest of the group followed his prompt haste, donning the rest of their armor even quicker. Monkey began climbing into the pack that was strapped behind the bull's back. As they did all this, the bovine searched for a window of opportunity down on the esplanade.

A large group of patrols were marching back and forth across the base of the foothills. Tung guessed that if they crossed into their traffic in time, they could merge into enemy territory seamlessly. When Rushi and Tigress fell in line, the bull signaled for them to stand by, waiting for the wave of soldiers to move along their hairpin route and pass by them once more.

The young tiger was everything but inert; the thrill of high-stakes compelled her in a way that she had to put more effort in holding herself back than in finding the impulse to initiate. Her wide fingers pushed on the ground, ready to accelerate her.

At last, Tung ordered them to commence.

The trio of imposters sped down the embankment. Once diverging into the sea of men, they changed their pace accordingly with the militia's marked-time trudge. It seemed they had assimilated smoothly, having drawn no attention to themselves; the guards surrounding them just continued along their instructed paths.

The calling horn bellowed again, and all the infantry units across the entire shore responded with militarized synchrony; halting on their spots to make adjustments, they faced towards the ship in incremental turnabouts. Tigress barely caught on. The moment they grounded their feet and lock-in on their orientation, the tiger was off by some considerable angle.

She may have been a warrior, but she was far from being a soldier.

At an arrestingly slow progression, they started moving towards the boat. The tiger rose to her tippy-toes, hoping to get a glimpse of what's ahead. They drew closer and closer to the grand vessel, successfully crossing the vast shore and walking past the deck. In the next instant, they were already marching up the ramp that allowed them to board the ship. At the peak of the plank, a grand entrance to the hold swallowed them entirely; the tiger fell into the abyss within.

First there was darkness, then there was the settlement of a few formless details. Those details eventually acquired the quality of lines and contours, taking the shape of massive stockholdings and containers.

A hoof applied force on Tigress's back, pushing her out of the streamline of workers, which continued to move up the steps to the deck above. To isolate themselves, she was shoved deeper and deeper into the ship.

"Hey. Maybe next time, you should tell your fun-sized ape to keep it still next time."

Tung tossed a bag to her feet; it wriggled and jumped—the simian was evidently trying to get himself out.

Tigress, far too preoccupied to notice the struggle, stepped over the moving satchel and attended to one of the boxes beside her. She lifted the lid, finally seeing the bare proof of Mantis' extraordinary claim herself. "Potions."


The Grey Coincidence pointed out a plot hole in the earlier version of this chapter, so I had to rewrite this one almost entirely. Hopefully, my attempt to patch up one plothole did not lead to more plotholes - I'm practically legally blind towards logic and I admit that this fic is poorly planned (in that I actually don't have a plan for it). Much appreciation to Grey!

I'm very thankful for The Great Ying and The Dragon Chronicle for beta reading my story. And also, thank you to all reviewers who took the time to leave comments! I really appreciate you guys.