Badgerclops and Adorabat were relaxing in the house, at least they initially tried to, when they heard loud noises coming from the dojo outside. They had made their way to said dojo to find Mao Mao training himself to the limit against all the traps present, his sword Geraldine in hand. Both the bat and the badger couldn't help but notice how aggressive the black cat was acting, hacking and slashing things to pieces with his sword with such growling and roaring furor. They could tell that Mao Mao wasn't training because he liked to.

"Uh, hey dude?" Badgerclops managed to sound out before he immediately had to duck from an incoming chunk of wood, screeching out a yelp. He inched his way back up to look at Mao Mao having swung the fragment in his direction with the wild look still on his face. Mao Mao breathed heavily, suppressing a growl with his teeth bared as he cooled down from the sudden halt in his exercise. But that look lasted for only a moment once he recognized who he just threw stuff at.

"Oh, Badgerclops, I'm so sorry," Mao Mao sputtered nervously, his eyes widened and his hands raised in shock. He turned away to look down at the floor, sighing as he sat down. His gaze turned downcast, though slightly bitter and morose as he just sat silently. Badgerclops and Adorabat turned to each other with a sad and concerned look on their faces before deciding to move to either side of Mao Mao. Badgerclops walked over and sat on one side while Adorabat flew and landed on the other.

This time, it was Adorabat's turn to speak. "Mao Mao, are you okay?" She placed a wing on the black cat's arm. Mao Mao didn't pull away, but he didn't react much to the little bat's gentle touch. It took him a little bit of effort to try and answer her.

"I…I don't know, Adorabat."

It all started yesterday with a phone call. One that involved ringing on an old-style telephone that was blue and had a receiver shaped like a cat's head with green slit eyes. It surprised both Adorabat and Badgerclops that the ringing came from something other than the Monster Alarm, but what surprised them even more was how quick Mao Mao was at being the first to go answer it.

When Mao Mao picked it up, the tone was very somber despite how quickly it changed from the cat being loud and clear to almost whispering. His two other friends could make out him speaking to who was apparently his mom, and from the way he responded to what he was hearing, he was not very happy to hear it. They were even sure that he sounded like he was trying hard to restrain himself from making an outburst, not to mention that he was making multiple refusals to some kind of request. The tension and uncertainty over what just happened only built up even more once Mao Mao hung up. It was when they asked him what the call from his mom was all about and Mao Mao's single curt answer to that question that they knew what they wanted to know, or at least enough of it:

"It's my brother. He was asking for me."

Both Badgerclops and Adorabat knew as much as each other when they tried to guess why Mao Mao wouldn't talk about this brother of his. Actually, they never knew he even had a brother until the call came. They only knew that he had a father who pretty much ignored him and five sisters whose shadows he stood under because he told the two about them himself. Somehow, he was open enough to share his memories of those six family members to his unrelated friends, maybe even to complete strangers if it comes to that, but to leave out one brother in particular raised at least a couple questions. Once he mentioned his brother to them for the first time, he didn't say another word, instead opting to just walk off to the bedroom and stay in there for several hours. Seeing how this knowledge troubled Mao Mao to levels that were no longer simply casual if not funny, Badgerclops and Adorabat decided to try and help Mao Mao get it out of his system.

"Who's your brother?" Adorabat asked first.

Mao Mao let out a displeased sigh as though he was trying not to let out another enraged scream, at least not with the girl sitting next to him. "He's my brother…but…not really my brother…literally…"

"So he's adopted?" Badgerclops interjected. "Is he like…some different-colored cat, or something?"

"He's a dog, okay?" Mao Mao growled. He didn't turn to look at his badger friend. "And yeah, he's adopted…my father took him in when we were both little."

"Yeah okay, but does he, you know, have a name?"

Mao Mao grumbled again. He tried to stay silent, but knew that both of his friends' eyes were still on him and were not leaving him be any moment sooner. "Bao Bao."

"Uh, what?" Badgerclops couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"I said his name's Bao Bao!" Mao Mao exclaimed, finally turning to face Badgerclops with a recognizable level of irritation that was all too well known by everyone who's gotten to know him. "What's your problem?"

"No, nothing dude!" Badgerclops backed away a little bit. "It's just the name Bao Bao, it sounds like your name. It's almost like you gave him that name or something." He stopped talking upon sensing an even more piercing glare from the black cat. "And…okay then."

"But why don't you like him?" Adorabat asked Mao Mao next. "He's your brother. You talk about your dad and sisters like they're great, but not him."

Mao Mao's gaze dropped, his face slowly morphing from anger to a smoldering melancholy. He rested his chin on his knees as he tried to muster the energy to stay upset. "I used to think he was great," he spoke softly, "Actually, he was the one who thought I was great. He's the youngest in my family, but I'm still the smallest." He looked up at the distant view of Pure Heart Valley outside the dojo. "Ever since we met after he became part of the family, he thought my father and sisters were incredible heroes, just like how I looked up to them too, but…when he looked at me, he thought I was an up and blooming hero too. It's like even though I was still trying to learn to be a hero, I knew more about it than him, so he…wanted to be like me too, wanted me to teach him." He let out a tiny stifled chuckle. "It kinda made him my apprentice, but we stuck to each other more like fast friends. I guess being one of only two boys among the Mao family's children would do that to you. But then father wanted to teach him the ways of the Mao clan just as he did for my sisters, and then we didn't see each other as much anymore."

Mao Mao felt Badgerclops's hand rest on his shoulder while Adorabat curled her wing around his other arm even more. "Hey, it's not like we were complete strangers after," Mao Mao objected. "We still talked to each other and played from time to time. Boy, Bao Bao wouldn't stop asking me to show him a new trick…especially when I tried to show that trick to father first." His eyes then traveled up to glance at the Ruby Pure Heart in the far distance. "Then I thought, 'Why don't we go on an adventure together for old times' sake?' and for a little while, things went back to the way they were before."

"Well, that doesn't sound bad." Adorabat observed.

But then Mao Mao's gaze hardened again, only this time, it came back tenfold. "Yeah…and that's when he betrayed me…destroyed me!" His hands balled up into fists. "We ventured into a cave to find a treasure called the Amulet of Borflagon, a pendant that shows the most precious memory of whoever wears it. He tried to take it from me when I was supposed to be the one to claim it and bring it home! We got chased by a monster and escaped, but he still tried to rob me of my right!" His voice grew louder as he rambled on. "When I tried to defend myself, that made a giant rock fall on me…and then, he…and then…" his voice wavered and trembled, sounding like he was about to cry, "he…took my tail off!" He buried his head into his knees, hiding his face away from the world as he sat there curled up into a ball.

Adorabat and Badgerclops both looked at Mao Mao, witnessing the pain he had hidden away from them all this time. All they could do was comfort him the best they could with their touch. "How could he?" Mao Mao's voice muffled from behind his knees. "He already got to be more of a son to papa than I did. Wasn't that enough? Did he want to be papa's only son?" His shoulders shook, uncaring of whatever was happening around him.

"Oh Mao Mao, it's okay." Adorabat now rubbed the cat's arm with both her wings while resting her head on it. "I'm sorry for asking."

"No, no, don't be," Mao Mao sniffed.

"Let it out, man," Badgerclops rubbed his buddy's back. "I don't usually think your past is that bad, but that's really messed up. But we're here for you, okay?"

Mao Mao said nothing, but continued to sob, both sorrowfully and also angrily at having just relived the loss of his innocence.

Somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, he wondered why his so-called brother would ever want to see him again. He, on the other hand, most certainly didn't.