Strong

Sho, King of Bandits

The procession marched on through bamboo forests and big banyan trees. The sun rose slowly over the leaves, sending dancing shadows onto Wolf's eyes. He would pause for a split moment, shutting his eyes, letting the shadows dart across his eyelids, and then open them again to see the path in front of him. "Something's not right," Po mumbled.

"I'll say. You haven't complained about food for a while. You okay, Po?" Monkey jabbed.

"No, I mean... ugh never mind," Po muttered. Sometimes talking to Monkey wasn't the best thing to do. As the warriors walked on either side of Wolf, they heard the guards in the front and back mumbling things.

"So what's the deal with the wolf?"

"Whatever he did, I heard he's one of the strongest people in the world. Probably stronger than that tiger warrior."

"Master Tigress? No way!"

"I heard he tried to kill the Emperor." Po saw the wolf grunt and roll his eyes.

"I heard he's from the far west part of China. That's he's an ancient warrior gone rouge."

"Well, I've heard that felines have a knack for him. Especially the big cats." Po saw the wolf darting his eyes, not like a trickster or a villain but... was he... blushing?

Po looked Wolf once over. His bare chest and fur had been sucked out of their sheen. He hunched forward a bit, but that might have been caused by the heavy cuffs around his hands and ankles. His pants were dirty, black, and tattered with grime from the cave.

Po sighed. There were too many questions in his head. "I wonder why Mr. Three warned us against your enemies," He said to Wolf. The dog just sighed in response.

Suddenly, Wolf stopped. His eyes narrowed and scanned the woods. Not a sound; the soldiers had stopped too. Fierce lines scrunched up Wolf's muzzle, and his ears perked up. "Oi! Why ya stopping!" Shouted the guard. "Get that dog goin'!"

"Shhh!" Po hushed. "You hear that, Monkey?"

"Yeah, but where is it?" Po and Monkey looked all around but couldn't find the source. It grew louder and closer. Then all of a sudden, it stopped. "Well, whatever it was, it's gone now," said Monkey. Po looked at Wolf whose eyes peered into the dark thickets of the bamboo forest.

Bark BARK!

"Over there!" A figure darted out of the forest and into the sky, casting its large shadow over the guarded procession.

"RAAAHHHHHHH!"

"Look out!" Po pushed Wolf and Monkey out of the way. An earthquake ripped through the ground. Through dust clouds, Po saw a huge brown bear with a giant longhammer slung across his shoulders. The guards tumbled to their faces as a swing of the bear's hammer split the earth. A crack ran towards the soldiers and dirt rolled over them in large heaps of earth. The huge bear stood with his longhammer stretched across his arms as he listened to the guards' delightful songs of agony.

Po coughed, "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Monkey said. Wolf nodded and glared at the large brown bear. Po spun around. "Who the heck is that!"

"It's Sho, the king of the bandits," Po said. Sho laughed.

"Ha! Look at that, street cred! I'll be more famous than Shen in a week." Wolf silently snarled, glaring murder into the bear's skull. "Aww don't be like that pipsqueak," Sho said. "An ungrateful brat like you should be begging for me to free you."

"You'll have to get through us," Monkey said, as he and Po got into their fighting stances.

"Haha, with pleasure," Sho sneered. Monkey launched himself at the bear, kicking his gut. Sho didn't fling. As Monkey struck Sho's foot and arm, the brown bear simply grabbed the simian by the tail, spun him around in the air, and toss him back to Po.