Strong

Secrets

"Twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty!" Po practically growled as he slammed his body back to the ground from the push-ups. "Wow, I think I'm getting the hang of this." The panda rolled onto his back. The stabbing aches and pains were starting to go away, but they still lingered. "Ugh, I don't understand how Tigress does this for a living. Alright, next exercise." Po got up and walked over to the 10,000 steps. "Ugh.... Okay, just try... about 1000. Alright, here we go." While Po ran on, Tigress, Crane, and Monkey directed the wolf down to the stone dungeon. The steps spiraled down into darkness, but as Wolf turned the corner, yawning as his eyes adjusted to the torch-lit room, a bit of light started to pour in. They came to a row of cells on their right with barred opened holes to the outside. Wolf could hear the wind and bird singing on the outside, and a small smile graced his face.

"Come on," Tigress grunted, shoving the wolf out of his trance. "Get in." Wolf stumbled into his cell. Crane snapped a huge shackle around his waist while Tigress chained his hands. They were bolted to the ground in the middle of the floor, just enough for him to reach the bars. Finished, Crane and Tigress got out, and Monkey closed the door behind. Wolf's eyes immediately looked out through the hole in the rocky wall, watching the setting sun pour into his new cell. He wore a glad smile on his face as he basked in the sun's rays. Tigress and Monkey looked at each other but shooed away the incident and walked out of the dungeon. "Crane, you're in charge of him."

"Oh, oh okay," Crane stuttered as the others left. The bird leaned against the opposite wall, watching the wolf gaze at the sunlight. "You like the sunlight?" Crane asked, hating the silence. Wolf turned his head and slowly nodded, slightly surprised that someone would talk to him. "Monkey told me you lived in a cave your whole life. I can't imagine that." Crane looked up and cocked his head a bit. "You don't speak, right?" The wolf only blinked. "Okay, good. Po talks enough for five people," Crane yawned. "I'll be nice to have some quiet while I think about stuff."

"Think about what?" said a voice.

"OH!" Crane bolted upright. "Hey, Viper. Hi Viper."

Viper giggled, "I didn't mean to scare you, Crane."

"No, no, no. I was just... watching the dangerous criminal, you know."

"Hehe," Viper turned her head to the black wolf who stared back at her like a blank slate. "Soo. This is the criminal Platon was talking about. I have to say... I didn't think he would be so... broken already." The wolf cracked his lips into a warm smile and bowed his head. "Oh! Uh... you're welcome. Anyway, I... just came to make sure you were alright."

"Fine! I'm fine! I'm really good. Thanks for uh checking up," Crane nervously chuckled. He silently prayed she didn't see through his guise. But Viper smiled and slithered away. The bird sighed and pulled his hat off. "What am I going to do?" The bird caught the wolf's smirking eyes. "Don't look at me! Just... just stay in there." Wolf's face fell. He simply shook his head and continued to stare over to the waning sun.

As darkness covered the land, Po trudged his way, sore and pained, over to the kitchen where he found Tigress there to greet him. "Uh oh, what did I do?"

"Firstly, what haven't you done," Tigress muttered.

"Hey! I take offense to that completely true statement," Po exclaimed. The tiger rolled her eyes.

"Secondly, I need to talk to you about our new... guest."

"Okay." Po took a seat, opposite where Tigress sat. Her hands were clasped together on the table as if they were in a business interview. She stared straight into Po's very soul while the panda desperately tried to avoid her eyes.

"Platon said he was extremely dangerous. And with Sho the bandit, this makes things worse. Having him here is a hazard."

"I know, I know. But-"