Chapter 13: The Crocodile

Zenghui ran as fast as he could to find a way out. He was hungry, tired, and extremely parched, but Zenghui had to get out that instant. But he kept going back in circles.

Frustration built up inside him more easily at this point. Zenghui sighed and looked at the pond. He quickly took a sip of water.

The metal-gray fox looked back at the ox who was just starting to wake up. He walked over to him, his arms crossed, and he was tapping his foot angrily.

Once he awoke, he was startled to see Zenghui glaring at him with his coal black eyes. "What do you want?" he asked nervously.

"Now don't freak out. I need your help and I need it now. So no funny business, got it?" Zenghui told him plain out.

He nodded. Zenghui took a step closer to the ox, "How do I get out of here?"

"Oh, that's simple. Just go behind that little shack-like home and keep going straight," the ox replied.

Zenghui nodded. "Thank you," he replied.

The seventeen year-old fox took off in a flash, determined to send a warning letter to Ruby before it was too late.

He smiled and his heart pumped as his eyes spotted the city. He ran towards it and to the inn they stayed at. He swung open the door to their room and sighed in relief as he saw the beds and lamps.

He jumped onto the beds and hugged the pillows. They were so soft. And distracting, said a voice in his head. Get up and help your sister and babysitter! said the voice.

He quickly looked for some paper and a pen. He found some and began writing as fast as he could.

He didn't care if it wasn't the fancy writing he usually did, he was in a rush. He scurried over to the desk to find an envelope. He folded the paper to fit inside the envelope and looked for a stamp.

He licked the envelope, closed it, and pressed the stamp on. He quickly wrote down the address and ran out into the halls.

Once he ran outside of the inn, he saw Zeng flying overhead. He wondered how to contact him. He reached into his pocket and gave some money to the fruit stand owner. He grabbed three fruits and looked up towards Zeng. He had three shots.

I have to make this good, he thought to himself. He tossed one up, but it was too low. He tried again, but it was still too low.

He looked down at the last fruit. He closed his eyes and then opened them. He focused on Kwan and threw it!

Zeng was in a peaceful mood. He hadn't been attacked by a criminal while visiting Po, the Furious Five, and Master Shifu. It was such a nice day for him.

"I should come here more often. Although it's a city, the people here are nice," Zeng said to himself. "Nothing goes wrong here."

All of a sudden something hit him! He felt himself lose his center of balance. He began to plummet to the ground. "I spoke too soon!" he shouted out.

Zenghui ran ahead and caught him before he hit the hard dirt ground. Zeng opened his eyes, wondering why he didn't feel any searing pain. "Oh, Zenghui. Thank you."

"Sorry I hit you with fruit, I needed to get your attention fast!" Zenghui explained. He gave Zeng the letter and said, "Go to my home quickly. It's an emergency."

"Oh, thanks, but I," he began but Zenghui yelled, "Go now!"

Zeng flapped his wings frantically and flew off towards the mansion where they lived. Zenghui panted and then sighed.

As he was about to turn back to the inn and rest, someone pulled him over and hugged him. He looked up at the red-orange fox. It was his mother.

"Zenghui Dennis Xiaolin, where were you?" she asked using his full name. "You scared us half to death."

Zenghui just hugged her back. "It's a long story," he sighed. Then he stopped and said, "We have to go back home."

"Why?" asked his father.

"Ruby is in trouble," he said.

"What's wrong with Ruby?" her mother asked nervously.

"When I was in the bamboo forest, I ran into two bandits who wanted to take me for ransom. Now they're going to get Ruby," he explained.

Mr. Xiaolin looked at his wife and then they looked back at their son. "We have to get home fast," he said.

"But how? A carriage ride is too slow," said Mrs. Xiaolin.

"Then we'll run," he said simply.

Zenghui smiled. He loved it when his parents didn't do anything fancy. He saw his father take off, with his mother following behind. Then he joined in with them. Hang in there Ruby, he thought.

Meanwhile, Ruby was leaning against the wall, waiting for Peter to gather his clothes and do the laundry.

She vividly remembered that awful stench when she climbed into Peter's room to escape her babysitters.

She looked over into the room and held her nose. "Peter, are you done yet?"

There was no answer. It wouldn't surprise me if he fainted from the smell, she thought. She looked in and saw Peter trying to load the basket with clothes. The basket was overflowing.

"We'll do two loads, now come on," said Ruby.

Peter picked up the heavy basket and had some trouble walking with it. Ruby helped him and they stopped when they reached the flight of stairs.

Peter looked at Ruby. "Do you have a short cut?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. She took the heavy basket and pushed it down the railing. It went down half way perfectly fine, but then it tipped over. It fell onto Josie's head.

"Aw, yuck," she cringed.

Peter tried not to laugh. "Sorry Josie," he said.

Josie looked up and said, "Peter this better not happen again!"

He nodded and the two went down the stairs. Peter picked up the laundry and went into the laundry room.

Ruby turned on the washer and told him to start sorting the light clothes from the dark clothes. Peter made the two piles and Ruby felt awful from the smell.

The crocodile bandit looked in through the window. He peered in and saw Ruby and Peter.

The crocodile snickered as he saw a back door to get in. He stopped though when he saw Valerie watering some plants. He hid behind the bushes and reached for the silver doorknob. Once his scaley hands touched it, it shocked him!

Ruby's ears jerked up. Her prank had been set off. She smirked as she thought that Valerie must've touched to doorknob. She went to sneak over and take a look at the electrocuted snow leopard, but Peter stopped her.

"Let's go and get the other's laundry. We'll do those too," he said.

"Okay," she said, still looking at the door.

"Don't forget to put in the detergent," he said leaving.

"Alright," she said heading towards the door.

"Ruby!" he shouted.

Ruby stopped and went over to get the detergent. Peter nodded as he saw her scoop up some detergent and put it in. Peter left and Ruby rolled her eyes. She put back the detergent clumsily and knocked over the extra bottle of dish soap

Ruby didn't notice the bubbles forming in the washing machine. She opened the door, but looked behind her when she heard Peter call out, "Ruby are you coming or not?"

Ruby didn't see the crocodile at the door and just yelled, "Yeah, give me a second!"

Before she could look, he called out, "Get over here now!"

She sighed. "Alright," she called back.

The crocodile got ready to give her a punch, but the door was slammed in his face, before he could do anything.

He rubbed his snout. "Ouch," he muttered.

He saw Valerie's ears jerk up. He hid in the bushes again, before she looked up. She didn't see anything. She picked up the watering can and went to go in the back door. She touched to door, but she got zapped.

"Ow!" she winced.

She went in the front entrance and said, "Ruby, did you do something to the back door?"

Ruby, who was carrying the basket full of laundry just said, "I can't hear you behind this pile of laundry. We should probably talk again later."

She ran off, but she couldn't see around the pile. She accidently ran into the wall.

Valerie just shook her head and sighed, "Ruby."

Ruby quickly got up and rubbed her head. Then, Peter walked past her carrying the last pile in. He had only a few things in his paws.

He then came to a stop and shouted, "Ruby!"

Ruby looked over at Peter. She looked back at Valerie. Valerie hadn't been knocked unconscious from the shock, so she wasn't in trouble for that.

She also put in the detergent like she was told, so that wasn't it either. What was it?

She walked over, leaving the basket behind and her green eyes opened wide as she saw the laundry room.

Millions of bubbles flowing from the washer onto the floor. You couldn't see the wooden planks below the pile of bubbles.

"What did you do?" he asked.

Ruby honestly didn't know. She looked around for what she might've done. She then saw the extra soap bottle tipped over and almost empty.

"The soap bottle. I must've accidently tipped it over," Ruby said.

Peter tossed the clothes aside and went in the pile of bubbles. The two went over to the washer and Peter told her to turn it off. She pressed the button, or so she thought.

Peter opened the washer door and water and bubbles spurt out at them. Along with some socks, shirts, and pants.

"I said turn it off!" Peter shouted.

Ruby blocked the water with one paw and tried to look at what she had pressed. She had hit the 'Heavy Load' button.

She turned the washer off. The soaked snow leopard wiped his face with his arm, which only helped a little. He looked at Ruby who was soaked as well. The two looked around them.

Josie walked over to see what the commotion was about. Her eyes got wide once she saw the mess. The fox and snow leopard just looked at her and she looked back. "I'm not cleaning this up," she said simply.

The crocodile looked from outside. He decided to lure Ruby outside. He looked over to the left and saw the flattened flowers in the box.

He looked to the right and saw some nice flowers. He picked them and knocked on the door. Valerie opened it and asked, "Yes, may I help you?"

"Is Ruby here?" he asked with a fake smile.

"Yes, who are you?" she asked. She saw the flowers in his hand. Before the crocodile could respond, she asked, "Are you Miles?"

"Miles? Yes, yes I am," the crocodile said. I don't know who she's talking about, but I'll use it, he thought.

"Miles, it's nice to meet you. Listen, I'm sorry my friend Josie embarassed you and Ruby like that in the newspaper," Valerie apologized.

The crocodile didn't know what else to say but, "It's alright."

Valerie smiled and went to go and get Ruby. She saw Ruby was carrying a hand full of bubbles and going towards the sink.

"Miles is here," Valerie said with a wide smile.

Ruby froze. "Miles is here?" she said in shock.

Valerie's smile faded. Ruby's shocked face wasn't happy, it was more of a fear kind of shock. "What's wrong?"

"I must've embarassed Miles pretty badly in that paper. I don't think I could face him," Ruby said sadly, looking down.

Valerie just said, "Miles is fine about it. I apologized to him and he said it was fine."

Ruby looked at Valerie curiously. "He did?"

"Yes, and also, not to spoil the surprise or anything but, he has some flowers for you," Valerie said, her smile coming back.

Ruby tried not to smile, but it showed anyway. "Really?"

Valerie caught her smile and nodded. Ruby immediately left and ran for the door. Valerie sat down at the table and started to read the newspaper.

Ruby felt a great amount of joy flow through her. She swung open the door and looked around for Miles. The crocodile hid from around the corner.

"Miles?" she asked, looking for the fox with jet black fur.

Her happiness faded once someone grabbed her from behind and wrapped one scaley arm around her neck. She managed to say, "What's going on?"

The crocodile just said with a twisted grin, "I'm Cheren. Also known as The Crocodile. But right now, I am," he then said in a cold whisper, "your worst nightmare!"