No words are edited in this story. This story is the property of Tigreye33's sister.

CHAPTER ONE

The moonlight shined through the thick layers of leaves, piercing through the darkness of night. We walked through the gloomy forest, heading towards home. I looked up at my mother, who smiled kindly at me as she held my hand. I turned to my father. He grinned as well and said, "Are you tired, Dianli? Today was a very exciting day for you."

"I five!" was my reply after yawning.

"Yes," he laughed, "you are five now."

"Well," Mother said, "We had better hurry out of here. Dianli needs to go to bed, and you," Mother poked Father's shoulder, "need to be alert for your first job here."

Father said, "It is going to be fun, living in this new place, away from family."

"A new life," Mother agreed.

Then Father abruptly looked away, his face changing as he listened.

Mother asked, "What is it?"

"I heard… something." Father whispered.

Suddenly, Father shoved Mother to the ground, taking her place as an arrow was shot. The arrow flew into his chest, making him stagger and fall over. Mother screamed and picked me up. She took three steps towards escape and was stabbed from the side. Mother collapsed onto the forest soil, still clinging to me. I peered through my tears and over Mother's shoulder to see a group of feline bandits emerge from the shadows to gather their spoils from my father.

I turned to the one who stabbed Mother. The gray-faced cat was studying me. Then the other thieves came. They took Mother from me, making me stumble out of her arms. I watched them crowd around her. They killed my parents. They killed them.

I hissed at them, pulling out my claws. They noticed me and snickered. I jumped forward and tried to scratch the closest one's arm, making them all stand and circle me as they continued to laugh at me. I desperately tried to catch one of them, but they kept dodging and snickering. I cried harder, getting more and more frustrated as I kept missing.

"Enough," the gray-faced one said, "People will be coming soon."

She raced away on all fours, followed by the others. I chased after them, running as fast as I could, scratching at their heels, but they soon were out of my reach. I kept running, even as their figures became too hard to find in the darkness, but soon I became too exhausted to continue. I slowed to a stop, panting heavily and wiping my eyes as tears of anguish surfaced.

"No…"I whimpered to the night, "No…" I knelt on the earth, letting my tears fall into the ground.I looked upwards, longing, wishing, that my parents could have survived. I let out a final cry, for my parents, for the bandits. I cried out for my frustration, my agony, my broken heart.

I cried out for everything, for now I had nothing.

Bright, afternoon sunlight burst through the forest canopy. I was sitting silently, my knees hiding my face as I continued to cry. Then I heard soft, quick footsteps and leaves rustling. I peeked up to see a woodland squirrel picking and eating berries. I leapt towards it, hissing, and then watched it race away. I looked at the berry bush and picked berries off, slowly filling my stomach.

What do I do now? I wondered. I have nowhere to go… I thought about the thieves. They must pay. I will destroy those monsters .I thought about how skilled they were. I will be better. I will be better at everything. With that I prowled around on all fours and found a woodland robin. I took two silent, careful steps forward before freezing as it flew into a bush. I slunk over and peered in, but it flew away. I growled and walked off.

I continued that game for hours each day, gradually learning stealth. I soon used the technique to find more food by following animals to their sources. With the stealth training, I also practiced fighting; if I was going to stop those thieves, I needed skills in martial arts. So I would punch at a thin sapling that would bend back and forth, also giving me practice in dodging. I kicked at bushes and climbed fully grown trees. Every day, I would practice and practice, gaining strength and thinking of new techniques.

For a whole year I lived in the forest, training. I learned many survival skills. I also became afraid of villagers and would hide whenever one passed by. One afternoon, my fear forced me away from my main territory because of a group of travelers and I ended up against a brick wall high up in the mountain. I curiously peered over to see a red panda and a young tiger. The tiger was also training in martial arts! I eagerly watched as she struck a dummy three times in one second and back flipped out of range as the dummy spun on its scaffolding. The tiger landed in a defensive position.

The red panda frowned. "Again," he said, "Land correctly this time, and move faster." The tiger tried again, hitting four times and flipping away, but she stumbled on landing and had to retry. I was soon memorizing all of her instructions. I visited that training area daily, sometimes practicing the forms behind the wall instead of in my own training area.

Another year passed as I learned from the red panda, but something was nagging at the back of my mind; the training equipment. I wanted to train with the dummy and go into the training room with the turtle bowl and the fire. I wanted to test myself against the spiked, wooden dummies and balance on the turning logs. I kept myself under control for a while, but my want rapidly increased until one night, I couldn't stand it anymore. I climbed over the wall and went inside.