Bear Captured

## Premise

During their own attempt to kidnap Master Bear, Tai Lung and Daniel discover that the Dark Master has already been captured by pirates.

## Synopsis

Prior to the Skirmish at Vanqor, Tai Lung allowed himself to be captured by a Arkeyan Munificent-class star frigate, commanded by Master Bear in an iceberg near Vanqor. Once inside the ship's hangar, he put up a fight in order to make his capture look convincing. He was defeated and taken to a prison cell. Daniel then infiltrated the ship to release him in order to help apprehend the Dark master. Bear escaped in his solar sailer with the two Masters on his tail in a Sheathipede-class transport shuttle. Direct hits on the solar sailor forced the Dark master to make an emergency landing in a wilderness on the nearest Valley. When the Masters suffered a hit from a Arkeyan copter, they were forced to crash land, as well.

In a nearby cave, the two masters began to hunt for Bear, but the Dark master ambushed them by causing a sudden collapse in the cave ceiling, causing Tai Lung to lose his sword which Bear retrieved. This distraction allowed Bear an opportunity to exit and seal the cave with Tai Lung and Daniel still inside. While the masters tried to find a way out, Bear came upon Hondo Ohnaka's pirate gang salvaging his ship. Outnumbered, the Dark master considered his options and chose to accompany the pirate gang on their ship off the valley as a ransom to the Dark Empire or a prize to the Kung Fu Warriors.

Meanwhile, the Masters inadvertently disturbed "the mother of all gundarks" in the cave as they were trying to find their out. Finding the gundark, they concluded that they were on Vanqor. After rendering the gundark unconscious, they nearly succumbed to poison gas released from a trapped pocket in the cave just as Esther and a detachment of clone troopers uncovered the cave entrance.

After Master Shifu and representatives received a message from Hondo Ohnaka concerning a reward for the capture of Master Bear, at the suggestion of master Leopard, the Kung Fu Council assigns Tai Lung and Daniel to meet with the pirates to verify that they do indeed have the Dark Master in custody, agreeing to the condition that they must arrive unarmed. Upon arriving in the Twilight, the masters were met at gunpoint and escorted to Hondo, who arranged a meeting with their prisoner.

After Tai Lung and Daniel entered Bear's cell and subtly mocked his current imprisonment, Bear relished in the thought that the masters would soon join him in captivity. The Dark master warned that the desert turtles were "devious and deceitful, and most importantly...stupid" and that the masters "underestimated them at their own peril."

Upon leaving Bear's cell, the masters were "invited" to attend a banquet in the pirate gang's grand hall, which the desert turtle had no intention of letting the masters miss. Informing Thundering Rhino and Leopard that Bear was indeed being securely held by the pirates, Shifu told them that he was sending Senator Kharrus and Representative Zeng with the ransom in exchange for the dark master.

The masters took their seat at the banquet and were provided with refreshments: drugged beverages. As Hondo made a toast to a successful transaction, the two Masters switched their drinks with those of the desert turtle and a lizard sitting next to them, returning the toast to an "alliance" with "powerful pirates and...new friends." As their desert turtle neighbors passed out from the drugged drinks that were switched on them, Tai Lung reflected on how drunken pirates were able to capture the Dark master when the kung fu masters could not. Daniel tells him not to be too proud to accept the gift that came their way, whereupon Tai Lung made a toast to unexpected gifts.