New Friends

Zan had finally had it. Master Shifu was out of town for the day. He had just left and the whole palace was in a whirlwind of shouting and griping. He needed to get away. So he did. Zan enjoyed going to Mr. Ping's shop and doing some work. It was peaceful and very quiet at rush hour in comparison to what he had to endure in the palace. He quietly walked to the soup shop. Everyone in the village knew he was Zan, but only the people in the Jade Palace knew Zan was a prince, and Zan knew he couldn't afford having people learn about him. For all they knew, he was a relative of Zeng. Zan made it to the shop undetected. "Oh hello, Zan. Come here for some work," Asked Mr. Ping. Zan smiled just a bit.

"Yes Mr. Ping," Zan replied.

"Well, I could use some help with the kitchen here. I need some more soup for the morning rush." Zan put on an apron and started to work. There were a lot of people today. The shop was busting with customers, and Zan worked very hard. Finally, the morning rush stopped. Zan glanced at the entryway to see a pair of brown eyes looking at him in the corner. Well, they weren't looking AT him, rather they were looking in the kitchen where he was. This made Zan a little curious so he went up to the fox.

"Excuse me," He said politely, "May I help you?"

"Oh yes," Said the little fox in a cute puppy face, "I was just wondering if you could just spare a slice of bread or some soup." Before Zan could answer, Mr. Ping came from behind him.

"Oh, it's you Ruby," He said firmly. Ruby and Mr. Ping never met before, but she guessed she had a record around town now. "Trying to make a sap out of my worker here. Well, you know better than to try that with me." Ruby's facade dropped and she grumbled. "If you want some soup, just ask. Don't plea for it like a begging child. Now clean yourself up. You look like a mess." Zan had stayed silent the whole way through as Ruby dusted the dirt off of her. She was still sore that her method of getting food didn't work, even though she got the food.

"You're name is Ruby," Zan said quietly. The fox looked at the duck with a pouting look. She was about a half inch taller than him. "I'm Zan," He said with a smile. Ruby looked at the duck as he bowed with a suspicious face.

"Hello Zan," She answered.

"Are you from here," Zan asked. She didn't answer for a while.

"Yes."

"Oh, well, it's nice to meet you," Zan said trying to be friendly. Ruby looked at him again. His smile was wide and his eyes were filled with excitement. Ruby couldn't hold her tough exterior to something like that. "So why were you trying to get food?" Or maybe she could. She answer coldly.

"That's none of your business."

"Is it for a friend," Zan guessed. Ruby was shocked.

"How do you know about that?"

"Well, when I was younger, I would ask people for food to help my friend back at home," Zan said trying to hide the sadness creeping up his voice, but Ruby heard it.

"You're not from here?"

"No, I come from another village, but...things are...rough," He explained a bit murky. Now Ruby had compassion on the little duck as Mr. Ping came back with the bowl.

"Mr. Ping, is it," She asked. "Is it okay that I stay here for a moment. I want to learn more about Zan." Zan was excited but Mr. Ping was leery. Ruby was a good kid but had some bad things about her. Whether or not that was her character or somebody else's was completely up to debate. Mr. Ping nodded and went back to the kitchen as the two sat down. "So you're kind of like an orphan?" Zan huffed in a bit of sad laughter.

"I am an orphan," he said looking at the table. It was true and not true at the same time. It wasn't true because even if his parents were gone, he would still have the Jade Palace as a family. But now, things had split the Jade Palace so much that Zan didn't feel like he had anyone. He felt so alone that he felt like an orphan. Ruby rubbed his wing.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but where do you sleep if you work here," She asked.

"I live in the Jade Palace," He said casually. Ruby's eyes lit up.

"You live in the Jade Palace? There's a prince up there! Are you that prince!?"

"No, no, no!" Zan lied, "I'm just...a relative of one of the servants. They are letting me stay while I'm away from home." He didn't want his new friend to think that he was royalty just yet. She seemed disappointed for a minute.

"But you still live with the prince, right?" Zan shrugged. Living with yourself is a type of living. "Wow! Hey, you could meet some of my other friends." Zan's eyes lit up.

"Okay, Mr. Ping?"

"Sure, you can go. But be back up the mountain before Shifu gets worried," He replied. The two hurried out of the shop and quickly went down the street to where the gang usually hanged out. It was a small little hut on the outskirts of town. It was O's house. It was made out of twisted metal, rotten wood, and broken glass. However, it was so big and constructed so well, that Zan thought it was an actual house. Ruby and Zan burst through the door where the others were.

"Hey guys, this is Zan. He's a guy I wanted you guys to meet," Ruby introduced. Aang, Zang, and O all waved. Zan waved nervously at them. Zan could see in the corner of the room a little crane, about his height, shyly looking at him. Zan made a shy waved to the crane as she waved back with a smile. Vick, however, was not amused.

"Ruby, what are you doing? You were suppose to bring some food for O," He reminded. Ruby fussed as she brought the soup to O. He greedily slurped it. When he finished, he was amazed and his eyes widened greatly.

"This is the best food I've ever had! Where did you get it," O asked.

"I got it from the old Mr. Ping. He knows my method of getting food, but he gave it anyways," Ruby said frustrated over the situation. Vick slowly walked around Zan, examining silently.

"And why did you bring this guy," He asked.

"Oh you'll like him," Ruby said excitedly. "He's an orphan just like O."

"Well, not exactly. I'm not sure how-"

"Anyways," Ruby continued, "He says he lives in the Jade Palace." Vick's eyes lit up. The two bunnies looked at each other.

"The Jade Palace? Where the prince lives," asked Aang.

"That's right, Aang,"Said Zang.

"Hush you two," Vick commanded. Vick generously bowed. "It is nice to meet you Zan. I am Vick, leader of this group."

"That's debatable," Ruby said as Vick scowled at her.

"These are Aang and Zang. We just call them the Twins."

"Hi," They said simultaneously.

"This is O, who is the only orphan among us and the one we try to get food for," Vick said pointing to the tattered ox. Zan continued to look at the crane in the corner. "Oh, that's Ai. She's a little shy around new people. Don't worry, she'll be talking none stop about you," Vick laughed. Zan chuckled too. Vick seemed friendly, but Ruby didn't seem to think the same way. Then Zan remembered what Master Shifu had once told him.

"Some people will be your friends just to get something from you," He said. Zan sighed sadly. He crossed his wings over each other, furrowed his eyebrows in a scowl and stared straight up at the grey wolf. Vick was a little shocked at the sudden transformation.

"What do you want with the prince," Zan asked bluntly. He knew this wasn't about him. They just wanted to get to the prince.

"Well, we were just wanting to see him and meet him," Vick said trying not to reveal his plan. Ai came out of her shy spell and walked over to the conversation, smacking Vick on the shoulder in the process.

"You know he knows, so stop lying," She said. She looked straight at Zan, though a little nervous about it. "We want to have a better place for O. He doesn't want to go to the orphanage and he can't stay here. So, it was Vick's idea that we meet the prince to adopt him or hold him up for ransom from his parents and get enough money to get O a house."

"AI!" Vick shouted.

"Well, he was going to figure out eventually," Ai shot back. Zan's eyes widened. He was both shocked and surprised that they would do something like that for an ordinary orphan. He shook himself out of his daze.

"Well, there's three problems with that," Zan said.

"What," Vick asked, pretty confident that it was a good plan.

"One, the prince is around my age, so he can't adopt O. Two, like me, the prince is no where near his parents and he doesn't know where they are, so you can't ransom him from them. Three, he is protected by the Jade Palace warriors, the Furious Five, and the Dragon Warrior. In order to get him, you would have to try and get past those guys." Vick was nervous now. He hadn't thought about that.

"Oh," was all he could say.

"Yes," O said.

"Not you," everyone replied.

"So what's your other plan," Zan asked with a smirk. The wolf looked around for an answer.

"I don't know. I got nothing," he sighed.

"Good, now here's my idea," Zan proposed. "We have O work at Mr. Ping's shop. He always needs a helping hand. Plus, his son moved out a while ago so he'll have a place for him to sleep. Work, pay, shelter, what more could you need?" Vick shook his head.

"Don't you think we've tried that? No one will take O in," Vick sighed.

"Let me try," Zan said.

"Of course he can't live here," Mr. Ping said sternly. Zan's beak dropped. "Ah I'm just kidding. Of course he can stay. He can work with me and you all can help me with the shop." Zan, Ruby, Aang, Zang, and Ai were elated. Vick was genuinely surprised. Ai hugged Zan around the neck.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" Ai said gratefully. Zan blushed.

"Well, there goes my plans with the prince," Vick muttered. Mr. Ping looked at Zan with a confused look. He quickly and quietly whispered to him while the others weren't looking.

"I haven't told them," He said. Mr. Ping nodded, agreeing to say nothing.

"Come on, O is it? We'll get you settled in," Mr. Ping said bringing in the little ox.

"Okay, let's go and play 'Hopping hide and seek'," Vick suggested.

"What's that," Zan asked.

"It's like hide-and-seek but when the one who is 'it' finds someone, that person is now it," Ai explained. "You want to play?"

"Sure," Zan said excitedly. Little did he know that when they would be done, it was late in the night and the sun was well gone and the moon high in the sky. "Oh wow! It's very late! I have to go before I get in trouble."

"Oh I'm sure you won't get in too much trouble," Vick replied. As Zan flew up the mountain alone, there on the grounds of the Jade Palace courtyard stood Master Shifu with the sternest face Zan ever saw. Zan landed down in a sad looking face.

"I'm sorry Master Shifu for being so late. I was playing with some new friends," Zan said looking at the ground. Shifu's eyes widened. He was surprised that the little kid could make friends in his situation. Shifu smiled as he rested his hand on the little duck's shoulder.

"Well, I'm glad that you made some friends, but the Furious Five and I were worried sick about where you were," Shifu said kindly. Zan could hear sounds and loud arguing noises from the kitchen of the barracks.

"Yeah, I can see that," Zan said a little downcast. Shifu sighed.

"Why don't you stay out here for a moment. Wait until everyone settles down. But be in bed for the morning," Shifu said. Zan bowed as the master went away. He sat alone sadly looking at the moon. He could still hear the noises from the kitchen. Then all of a sudden, it stopped. Zan turned his head in the direction. He wondered what could be going on in there.

to be continued.