Chapter 11: Of Cabbages and Reputations

Po and Dai awoke in a dark dungeon chained to the wall. Smiling smugly at them was Jong, an old foe of Po's. He had a reputation for being harsh in his punishments, especially with those who trespassed on his land.

"Daiyu, long time no see, my friend," said Jong.

"You two know each other?" asked Po, surprised.

"Yeah, well, my pack might have crossed paths with him on occasion," said Dai.

"Yes, wolves have an uncanny knack for getting in my way." His voice was calm, but his look was seething.

"Look, whatever problems we may have had in the past, maybe we can look past them for a better future?" asked Dai.

"Let me think, uh… no!" said Jong.

"Look, Jong, leave Dai out of this," said Po.

"No! You have both trespassed on my land, so you must both be punished!" said Jong. "And do not call me 'Jong.' That is my name with friends and you two are not my friends, my friends," said Jong.

Dai and Po both groaned. His full name, while fun to say, was so long. Jong Sung Jai Kai Chow. "That's what I like to hear. Now, bring the devices!" he called out to an assistant of his. A cart was rolled into the room with a variety of strange torture devices. He picked up a strange drill and its ominous whirring filled the room.

"Don't you wanna know why we're here?" asked Dai. Jong stopped his device briefly.

"If I cared why people trespassed on my land, I wouldn't have put up the signs. I wouldn't have boiled their heads with cabbage and stretched their earlobes around their heads," said Jong.

"Oh, so you actually do those things?" asked Dai, her tone sarcastic.

Jong sputtered. "Yes! Who do you think I am?!"

Dai pretended to go into deep thought. "Jong Sung Jai Kai Cow?" she asked.

"Yes. What? No! I am a Takin. Do I look like a cow to you?!"

"Yeah."

"Dai, what are you doing?!" asked Po. He had been watching this unfold and watching Jong get madder and madder. Why is she doing this? If she doesn't stop, she's really gonna get hurt.

"Be quiet, Panda!" Jong shouted. In a sinister low tone, he said, "Daiyu, I think it's time you and I have that private talk you promised me for."

"I'm game," Dai replied.

Jong signaled his assistants and they took Dai's chains off the wall. Then, Dai, still chained, was escorted out of the room. Jong flashed a malicious smile toward Po. Po protested, "Wait! Stop! Don't hurt her!"

Dai was dragged back into the room sometime later with small wounds and bruises. She was slumped where she lay. Jong set a foot into a pressure point on her back and she wheezed in pain. "Remember this moment, the next time you decide to slander me," he said. He kicked her across the room and she lay against the wall, unmoving. "We have to go clean up. Tomorrow's your turn, Panda."

Po shook in silent rage. Jong left, laughing. When he left, Dai slowly started getting up. She gripped the wall and shakily made her way over to Po.

"Dai… what did he do to you?" asked Po, his voice soft and worried.

"I'm all right, Po. I got the keys," she said, presenting a ring of small keys. She unlocked Po and he dropped to the ground.

"Ah! Numb feet! Numb feet!" said Po. After a few steps, his feet weren't tingly anymore. Dai, however, wasn't going to so easily recover.

"We had to recover a prisoner, yes?" asked Dai.

"Yeah, but maybe we should head back."

"No. We have to finish this. Come on." She stumbled across the room to where Po stood. She stumbled into him and he caught her.

"Dai, you're hurt."

"I know. I just didn't want you to get hurt. Besides, I got the key to free you and the prisoners. Now, we can grab who we need to and get out of here. That's all that matters."

"Dai-"

"We're not discussing this further. Let's go." She took a deep breath and opened the door. "Follow me, I found the prisons earlier."

They sneaked down the hall past guards and patrolmen. When they reached the prisons, they found a few crocodiles looking sad and a little afraid. These were the Croc Bandits, along with their leader, Fung. "Hey, Po; Hey, Girl," greeted Fung.

"Hey, Guys," Po returned.

Dai, meanwhile, was looking into the other cells at the other prisoners. "Po, we need to free all of them," said Dai. "No one should be a prisoner here."

"Yeah, okay," Po replied. Dai unlocked all the cells and they ran out as quickly and quietly as they could. Po marveled at how well Dai was taking her pain. She looked a lot more hurt than she was acting.

Once they got outside the border of Jong's land, the other prisoners ran free. Fung and his bandits stayed behind with Po and Dai. "Hey, thanks for freeing us from Jong. That guy's a nut job," said Fung.

"No problem. We were wondering where you guys went. No one had seen you guys for a while. What were you doing back in Jong's land?" asked Po.

"Well, we weren't trying to steal from him, that's for sure," said Fung. He was obviously lying by how much he was fidgeting.

"Fung, don't you remember what happened the last time you tried to take Jong's kid?" asked Po.

"We weren't trying to take Jong's kid this time, honest!" said Fung.

"We were trying to take the gold he got from the wolves," said Gahri.

Fung threw his helmet down. "Darn it, Gary, what did I tell you about telling people about our plans?!"

"Wait, which wolves?" asked Dai.

"Does it matter? They're all the same anyway," said Fung. Dai sent him a cold glare and he said instead, "I mean, so many wolves we know are thieves, but I'm sure they're not all that way."

"I actually can't think of any wolves who aren't thieves. I mean, you got the Lin Kuei, the Black Jade," said Gahri, listing. Dai didn't say anything about her clan actually being the Black Jade. It's probably better I don't mention that, she thought.

Fung grabbed his helmet with the intention of throwing it at Gahri, but stopped when Po spoke. "Dai lives with the Five and me at the Jade Palace. She goes on kung fu missions with us and helps us nab the bad guys."

"Wow, that's really cool. Nice to see a wolf be scary in another area," said Fung.

"And it's nice to see a croc that isn't a kung fu master," said Dai.

"Touché," said Gahri. "She's really clever."

"Yeah, whatever, really clever and all that," said Fung dismissively.

Dai started walking off in a different direction. "Dai? Where you going?" asked Po.

"I'm thirsty. There's a river this way," said Dai. The crocs and Po followed. While she was hunched over, drinking water in the river with cupped hands, Po got a good look at Dai's cuts and bruises.

"We should camp here for tonight," said Po.

"I can make it home," said Dai.

"Dai, you need to get those wounds taken care of," said Po.

"I'm fine." She stood up, but stumbled toward the ground. Po caught her before she fell and set her against a tree next to the water.

"Dai, it's okay. We'll stop here and head out in the morning."

Dai sighed. "There's no convincing you, is there?"

"Well, I mean… we ran a long way. We could use the rest; that way, we can make it all the better tomorrow." He smiled at her and they both understood the hidden meaning behind it. He was doing this for her. Dai smiled back. "Now, I'm gonna go get firewood and you just rest there."

Po went off to get firewood and Fung followed. Once they were out of earshot, Fung said, "Dude, she likes you."

"What?! No way! I mean, we're just friends," said Po, flustered.

"Po, I've seen what girls look like when they like guys and that's it." He paused as Po processed this. "It's pretty obvious you guys like each other."

"I mean… we have gotten close, but…" Po shook his head. "There's no way that can happen."

"Why not?"

"If we started dating, then she'd be in danger."

"No more than she is already as a wolf." Po wondered at that. "Look, Po, I'm not gonna tell you what to do, but I think you two could be together. Should be together. You looked happy back there. Take that."

They didn't say much more. Po absorbed the information, thinking it through. Maybe… maybe we should get together… He didn't want to see her get hurt again, but at the same time, he knew how capable she was to take care of herself. I'll… I'll give it some time. I have to think this through.

Fung and Po brought back a lot of firewood for the campsite. Gahri and the other crocs had some medicine and wraps. They let Po use them on Dai. It was pretty quiet between Dai and Po. They were careful. Neither wanted the other to know of their feelings, because they wanted to be sure it would be okay. Right now? It was not what they needed. They were sure of that. And yet… maybe it would be okay. Time would tell.

A few more character inserts for you ;) I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please keep reading and reviewing, thanks :)