A/N: Thanks for the support on the last chapter guys! I like to receive feedback and like to hear from you guys about your opinions on the story. So keep up the reviewing, I appreciate it!

Anyway, on with the chapter

Chapter 12

Comfort in Discomfort

"He's regaining consciousness, make sure he is restrained!" A voice said. Po began to open his eyes slowly, the last thing he remembered was being tackled by at least 20 Gorilla thugs and passing out shortly after from blood loss. He opened his eyes and saw a light above his head which looked to be a large candle, just then he began to feel pain from his right pectoral muscle. 'Son of a B****.' Po thought as he remembered that he had been shot in the chest by an arrow just before he had passed out. He then looked over to his right and saw the flesh wound in his chest, however for some reason it had been treated and was wrapped in white bandages. 'what the hell?' He thought as he turned his head to the other side and saw that his wrists were held in by tight leather straps. 'Why did someone wrap my wounds? And why are my hands restrained?' But then, he heard a familiar voice "A valiant escape attempt Dragon Warrior." Po began to growl angrily as he knew exactly who's voice this was. "I must say, I'm impressed you knew to set fire to the gunpowder, your cunning is truly great." Po heard Akuma talking from right behind his head, he was extremely angry right now, he just wanted to destroy that persistent bastard. "Nonetheless, I don't take lightly to those who destroy my things." Akuma said in an irritated tone. Po then gathered all his strength and broke the leather straps right off that held him to the operating table that he was lying on and stood on his feet. He heard another person in the room gasp in fear, however he ignored it and turned around. He saw steel bars and behind them was the Komodo Dragon who said "I could have easily killed you Dragon Warrior, however I still need you, so how about you don't cause any more trouble?" Po just growled angrily as he starred down the reptilian. Akuma then let out a small chuckle and left from the bars and went down the hallway. Po was still in an angered state and felt like smashing those steel bars out of their place, however he noticed just then the pain in his left thigh. He remembered to before he had been attacked by the thugs, he had been shot in the left thigh, he growled in pain and anger before he heard another voice in the room say "Don't push yourself right now, your body needs time to recover."

He turned himself around to face the origin of the voice, it was a female Brown Bear wearing a black robe as well as black pants. "And who are you supposed to be?" Po said in a slightly rude manner. "I'm supposed to be your healer, and as such I recommend that that you settle down and get your rest so I can continue addressing your wounds." Her voice sounded nervous but at the same time she seemed assertive. "And why should I trust you?" Po said with very little fidelity and also in a cold manner. "If I hadn't helped you when I did you would have been dead." The Brown Bear said as she crossed her arms. Po just starred at the Brown Bear skeptically and he limped back to the table that he had been on before not taking his eyes off the female Bear. He sat down and kept starring at the her and did not say a word as he cracked his shoulders and knuckles. From the perspective of the female Bear, she seemed very nervous as the strong and angry looking Panda Bear limped closer to her, then to her relief he sat down, probably as a means to say 'okay, just do your job.' So the Brown Bear nervously approached Po to address some of his wounds that she hadn't already treated. Po just allowed the female bear to lift his left foot and roll up the pant leg on his left leg, he didn't mind that she was getting quite close as he only wanted for her to treat his wounds. "I never did get your name." She asked while she was washing out the puncture wound on Po's lower left thigh. "Po." He replied coldly. "I see, so exactly why are you here Po?" The Bear responded trying to learn more about the Panda Bear. "I was captured while trying to protect the children of an orphanage by your master and now here I am." Po once again replied in a cold manner. "You think I want to serve that monster? You really don't understand what I've been through do you?" The female Brown Bear responded in an irritated way. Po just kept starring at the female Bear with an expression that said 'go on'. Seeing the look on his face, she continued "I was just a young teenager when Akuma raided my village, his men took all of the valuables and also enslaved many of us who were young able workers. I was one of these people, and ever since, I have had to be the healer for him against my own will. He took everything from me...My friends...My family..." The female Bear began to get very emotional. Po's jaw just lay open as he listened to the female Bear's story, he couldn't believe how similar her story was to how Po's was when he was a cub. He remembered how his village had been raided by Lord Shen and the wolves when he was just a cub, this instantly made him feel compassion and sympathy for the female Bear and he simply said "I'm so sorry." She just looked up at the Panda and said "Thank you."

While the female Bear kept addressing his wounds, Po thought of something that she said 'Akuma raided my village.' He then thought 'Akuma means demon in Japanese, but he isn't a real demon, if he was then I would have known.' He then looked at the female Bear and said "Hey...Um I'm sorry for how I behaved towards you earlier Mrs..." "Ni, Bao Ni, and don't worry about it, I can understand why you dislike Akuma, after all he did take you from your village." Po angrily growled at this, and not because of Akuma, but rather because he had also been taken from his new love. Bao Ni looked worried at this, she had seen how the Panda reacted when he was angry and she backed off a bit. Po noticed this and apologized "forgive me, I have just been a bit more uptight lately than usual." She sighed in relief and said "I see..." She then got back to helping to treat the wound on his leg. "Okay, I've finished washing out the wound, now I'm going to apply the disinfectant. However this might sting a bit, it's made using Scorpion Venom." Po wasn't worried at all about this, he had spent the last two months numbing his muscles against pain by punching the ironwood trees, obviously he could feel the pain when the arrows pierced through his flesh, however this would most likely not faze him. "Sure, go ahead." He said without any concern in his voice. Bao Ni was surprised by this, most of the patients around the camp that she had to treat would always shy away from the disinfectant, but this Panda didn't even care. "Okay then." She said as she took a rag and dabbed it into the disinfectant, then she began taping Po's wound with the disinfectant. During this, Po hardly even flinched, he felt only a slight tingle where she had applied the disinfectant, this surprised Bao Ni as she had never had a patient who was this resilient to pain. She then finished applying the solution and bandaged up the wound to prevent further bleeding.

After she finished this she got curious, in all her life she had never seen a live Panda until now, however she had heard that they were easygoing and quite robust, almost the opposite of what this one was like. So she asked "may I ask how you got so um...athletically toned? I haven't ever seen a Panda, but I've heard that they tend to be quite robust." she felt embarrassed while asking this question, she had never really noticed others for their physical look. Po almost laughed as he said "well, I can tell you that I definitely didn't start off looking like this. You see I used to be quite undisciplined and unfocused, however I recently became a teacher of Kung Fu and so I wanted to get myself into better physical shape. I trained extremely hard for several straight months and now I look like this." Po pointed to his chest as he said this. Bao Ni blushed and looked away, she didn't know why she suddenly felt so awkward. Po noticed this and asked "Are you alright?" Trying to get a hold of herself, she answered "Y-Yes I'm fine." Po was confused with the female bear's behavior but he decided to back off to make her more comfortable. Bao Ni had regained her composure and she said "sorry about that, I just got...Distracted..." She then thought 'what is it about this Panda? I have never felt this way around anyone else...' She was interrupted from her thoughts as Po rose from the table and stood up rolling his pant leg down. "Thank you." The Panda said to the female Brown Bear as he began to walk around testing the strength of his leg. She smiled and replied "Your welcome Po, but can you please promise me that you won't try to push yourself and hurt yourself again?" Po nodded and watched her walk to the iron bar gates in the room. "Take care of yourself Bao Ni." Po kindly said. Bao Ni blushed at this and replied "You too Po." Po made no attempt to escape the room as there were nearly 10 tough armed guards guarding the entrance to the room.

After Bao Ni had left, Po sat down in the right back corner of the room, and he got into the lotus position and calmed his mind. He began to meditate to clear his mind and also help his muscles to recover more quickly. Normally he would use his Chi to heal others, however it was unfortunately impossible to heal himself from his injuries, he had tried this but had no success, sometimes after punching the ironwood trees in the forest behind the Palace he would attempt to heal his bleeding knuckles using Chi but it would never work. For the moment, he was saving his chi and keeping himself very calm. Well, calm until he heard a familiar voice, "Well Dragon Warrior, now that you're in a condition to walk, how about you follow me?" Akuma said slightly chuckling. Po resisted the urge to growl angrily at the Komodo Dragon. He then stood up, several guards accompanied Akuma into the room as they opened the door. "Lovely girl she is isn't she?" Akuma taunted Po as he was now standing right in front of the Panda. Po knew that the reptilian was trying to get under his skin so he didn't respond to this. Akuma then continued "now, follow me, I'd like to show you to your new room." Po allowed the two guards to cuff his arms with the steel shackles, and he followed Akuma who led the way. They walked over to a very dark prison cell, down the hall. The cell had no windows or lighting of any kind, and from where he was, he could see that the cell was quite dirty just like the last one he had been held in. "Home sweet home Dragon Warrior." Akuma joked as he ordered his men to throw Po into the cell. His men then removed the shackles from Po's hands. "I figured that shackles would be little use against you." Akuma said and then continued "Now how about you behave this time?" Akuma said as he evilly laughed. The guards then exited the room and locked the steel bar door behind them. "I really hope you find this place more...hospitable than the other place." Akuma taunted Po once again. Po just sat down and watched Akuma while in the lotus pose, he ignored all of Akuma's taunts and began to meditate. "It looks like the Dragon Warrior is not interested...Well I assure you, when your friends are endangered you will definitely pay attention." Akuma threatened. This nearly struck a nerve with Po, threats against him did not faze him, he was used to it, however when anyone threatened his friends he would immediately become defensive. However, this time Po kept his composure and kept his eyes closed not showing any weakness. "Very well, it seems that the Dragon Warrior is not interested in speaking right now." Akuma said as he and his men left the cell and walked down the hallway.

Though this room had nearly no light and was very dirty, Po somehow felt more comfort and ease being in this room than the other. This time there were no shackles holding his arms in place, however there were two armed guards that stood guarding the cell. He still sat in the lotus position and was meditating to pass the time, however he was fatiguing and he soon fell asleep in the same sitting position.

"Psst!" Someone whispered. Po then opened his eyes and looked for the origin of the sound, when he looked up, he saw Bao Ni who was clutching the bars on the door looking nervous. "Po!" She whispered again. "Yes?" Po whispered back not knowing what the female Brown Bear wanted. "I know we didn't get much time to talk earlier so I wanted to tell you something because this may be the last time I'll see you." She whispered again. 'I hope she isn't going to say what I think she is.' Po thought, not liking where this was going. He then also wondered where the two guards that were guarding his cell earlier had gone. Bao Ni looked flustered and she wondered 'should I tell him? I just met him, but...' "I-I love you Po." She struggled to get out. 'And she did say what I thought she was going to say...' Po thought, he then looked down, almost in shame. Right now he felt horrible, Bao Ni had no idea of his relationship with Tigress and so he knew that it was going to be hard on her to know. "Bao Ni...I'm sorry I never told you but...I actually have a girlfriend."

Bao Ni was nearly heartbroken upon hearing the Panda's words, here she thought she had found the love of her life only to find that he already had a soulmate. Po once again said "I'm so sorry I never told you, I just didn't know you felt this way towards me..." The female Brown Bear then said "It's okay, I get it. How long have you been with her?" Bao Ni asked in an understanding tone. This came as a huge surprise to Po, he did not expect Bao Ni to react in this way, but he answered her question all the same. "I've known her since I was a teenager, however we only got together about a week ago. In fact, the same day that I was captured by Akuma was the same day that we went on our first date..." Po said as he looked away almost as if he was distracted, and he was, right now he was thinking about Tigress and their first date. It had been perfect, it had been everything he wanted, and then that Komodo Dragon had to ruin everything. Bao Ni simply listened to the Panda's story in angst, she couldn't imagine being in the Panda's shoes right now, having been taken away from one's love. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine-" She said not wanting to upset the Panda before she was interrupted by him. "Her name was Tigress, and she was the most beautiful, strong and determined woman I have ever met. She was a beautiful female Tiger with the most amazing amber eyes, and the most protective personality. I know it sounds ridiculous for a Panda to love a Tiger, but I really didn't care, I loved her more than anything. And now, I miss her dearly..." Po said while looking off into the distance. Bao Ni just kept listening to the Panda, he sounded very sad and regretful, he obviously really loved this Tiger, and being taken from her had really taken it's toll on him. "Well, you'll get her back eventually! I know you will!" Bao Ni said encouragingly to the Panda to lift his spirits and she reached through the space between the bars and held the Panda's hand. Po simply looked up and held her hand up as he said "I know, I made a promise to her that I would return. And god knows what she would do to me if I broke that promise..." Po joked as he remembered how Tigress would get if anyone would defy her.

The Bao Ni let go of the Panda's hand and looked both ways of the hallway "The guards will probably return soon, I'll need to get out of here before they catch me talking to you." "I was going to ask where the guards went. I assume it had something to do with you?" Po said with a slight smirk on his face. "Yeah, I tricked them and told them that Akuma wanted to speak with them, and I told them that I would bring two other guards to look after you." Po then smiled as he said "Not bad. You are very talented Bao Ni..." Bao Ni smiled and said "I'll come to see you again tomorrow, same time?" Po then raised an eyebrow as he was about to say "I don-" "It's settled then, same time tomorrow." Bao Ni and then she stood up and winked at the Panda and then left swiftly but also quietly to avoid getting caught. Po was dumbstruck right now, he had wanted to tell the Brown Bear that he didn't even know what time it was due to the lack of light. But then he smiled to himself as he thought 'She's a character...'

A/N: Chapter 12 done! Hope yall liked it! Next chapter will likely be a longer one and so it'll take a bit longer to write, but I plan to release it within 3-4 days from when this one is released.

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