Strong

What to Do Next

"Well... that was anti-climatic," Mantis muttered.

"Where do you think he went?" Viper asked.

"To talk to his real boss," Po sighed, crashing down onto the floor of broken stone and fractured wood.

"Now that Sho knows where Wolf is..." Tigress trailed off. She crossed her arms and thought. She couldn't really figure out what Sho would gain from finding Wolf. She hypothesized that maybe to alert the Emperor's army to arrest him, but from what Po told her, even the Emperor's motives couldn't be trusted.

But what did that have to do with Sho? Was he working for the Emperor? No. He wouldn't have disrupted Wolf's transfer to Chor-Gom Prison. Then what? Tigress glanced at Po. "Po, you said he's going to his real boss. What did you mean by that?"

Po glanced up at her and sighed, "I'll tell you later. Right now, I think we need to get this place cleaned up."

"Wolfie!" Shouted the small bunny girl. Little Haizi latched onto the wolf's leg. "I knew you were real!"

"UhhhHRm?" The wolf uttered his confusion and looked at the others for help. Po smiled.

"I think she likes you. Go on, play with her." Wolf instinctively looked at Tigress, who nodded with a smile. While the silent wolf went with the child, Po groaned out his frustration. "What are we going to do?"

"We'll think of something, Po," Shifu said. "In the meantime, I think we all need to train much harder. Po was right to push himself for future threats. I just didn't think it would come so soon." The others agreed. Po's eyes spread out as a small smile stretched across his lips. For a moment, he forgot about the whole world crashing in on him and the threat of some stronger unknown villain coming back with Sho. He just smiled as Crane, Viper, Mantis and Shifu headed up the Jade Palace steps.

"Why are you smiling?" Tigress asked.

"Oh! Uh... Well, honestly, it's kinda cool being Shifu's star pupil... for once."

Tigress smirked, "Don't get to attached to it, or it might make you stir crazy."

"Is that coming from experience?" Monkey chuckled. The striped cat glowered at her simian partner. "Easy, easy, I was just kidding."

"I don't think she's laughing, buddy," Po grimaced.

Monkey rolled his eyes. "Everyone's a critic." They walked up and talked about their next move. A little while afterward, Crane was in the sickbay, getting his torso wrapped with bandages.

"There. Try not to get slapped with a hammer next time," Mantis ordered.

"I'll try," Crane muttered. He walked out of sickbay and turned the corner, stopping in his tracks. "Viper?" Crane closed the door to the sickbay behind him. "What are you doing here?"

"I... I want to thank you for saving me from Sho."

"Hehe, I didn't really do much." The bird nervously scratched the back of his head. "Besides, I only scratched his chest."

"With your wings. Your feathers to be exact." Viper's tail slithered around Crane's outstretched wing. The feathers still had a murky brown color from the blood. "Thank you."

"Of course, that's what teammates do," Crane smiled, pulling his wing back. He turned to walk away.

"Yes, but... teammates," Viper said. "don't fight for each other like that." The bird stopped. He didn't turn around for a while. Just the strange creaking floorboards upset the silence. Viper's heart struck against her ribcage as she gulped, slithering closer to Crane's side. "I... I heard what Sho said to you... when you attacked. Is it.... Is it true?"