Strong

The Truth

"Home," Po panted. The stairs weren't a big issue to him, but they still left him a little winded. "Man, I can't wait to get some of Monkey's almond cookies. I'm starving! Maybe I should have eaten at dad's place." Shrugging, the panda waltzed into the courtyard, finding it empty. Really empty. The racks held the training gear, the walls were free of any damage, and even the dust on the floor looked combed in an even groove like someone swept the dust into their large Zen garden. "Ooookay? I'm gone for three days and Zeng goes all out on the cleaning. Nice Yin Yan symbol." Po carefully walked past the courtyard and up to the Hall of Heroes. It was quiet. Very quiet. As he got to the doors of the palace, his nerves began to get the best of him. "Please tell me I'm not about to open up and see a band of bandits or some monsters," Po mumbled.

Thankfully, the panda opened the doors and saw his friends standing in a row, gazing right at him. "Ohh thank the universe, I thought you guys were... wait, what's wrong?" Shifu, Tigress, Crane, Viper, Mantis, and Monkey all glared at him with either their arms crossed or their eyes narrowed. "Uhhh what did I do? Wait! I was gone! I didn't do anything! Why are you guys upset with me!?"

"Take a wild guess," Tigress said.

"You know I'm bad at this game," Po replied. The tiger held her peace. Po looked around the immaculate room for clues. He heard the ruffling of feathers, but that was just Zeng, so he didn't bother back down from his thoughtful stare of the ceiling.

"Good, now you stay here and I'll get the messanger mail," Zeng said to...

Who would Zeng be speaking to? Who would be helping Zeng?

"Wait, what?" Po looked past the line of glaring warriors and saw a wolf.

A black wolf.

A familiar black wolf.

A liberated familiar black wolf.

"WHAT THE! What is Wolfie doing out of his cell?!" Po exclaimed.

"He broke out," Monkey said.

"And you guys didn't put him back in because...?"

"Because the chains and shackles weren't holding him at all!" Mantis exclaimed. "Do you know how bent the bars were when we checked!" Po tilted his head and looked at his master for answers. The red panda sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"Po, we know that that cage we put the pri- the wolf in wasn't stopping him at all. And we know you knew that he could've broken out a long time ago."

"I... I..." Po sighed. "Okay, yeah I knew he could get out of there. But I promise that I wasn't trying to put you guys in danger or-"

"But you knew it was highly unlikely," Tigress sternly said.

"Why are you guys asking me this NOW? What happened?" Po finally asked. The others looked at each other for a moment and told him what happened with the Fang-An bandits. Hearing his name, Wolf stopped dusting the Sword of Heroes and walked over to the masters. As they told the story, however, Po's eyes grew wider and wider, and his legs started to shake.

"We don't know why or how all of this is possible," Tigress began to finish, "But the fact that the wolf could've broken out anyway AND harm all of us but didn't... We realize... I realize that we should have trusted you from the beginning." She looked at his face. Horror gripped his jaw and made his teeth chatter loudly. "Po?"

"You... you... you... you... you.... you-"

"Po, what's wrong?" Shifu asked. Suddenly, Po fell at Wolf's feet, shocking Wolf.

"Please don't kill us! We didn't mean to hurt you!" The Masters looked at Wolf and the wolf simply shrugged, looking as lost as they were.

"Po, could you please explain why you're freaking out?" Crane asked.