A/N: So here I am with a whole new story. I know, I know. I keep making them, don't I? But I have given up my Danish novel, so maybe I have a little extra time now.

For those of you who don't know me; I am a girl from Denmark, so English isn't my mother language. There will be some grammar and spelling mistakes, even though I am doing my best to catch them.

This will be a little darker story of mine, though I'll still put some humor in there. But please review and tell me what you think. I'll love a great start to this story.

Again, like Spread Your Wings, this is just an experiment. If things don't go well in the first couple of chapters I'll give up the idea. Sorry people, but I don't like writing a story that nobody likes, when I have so many other ideas to get started with. But hopefully this story will survive.

I don't own Kung Fu Panda.

Long Lost, Long Hidden
Fallen Warrior

Tigress somehow knew this fight was going to end badly. She just hoped that her friends would be safe.

In the last second she kneeled down, just avoiding the sword that was swung at her. Hitting the attacker's legs, Tigress made him fall while grabbing his blade. Twirling around, the striped feline used it to block the axe that was coming towards her.

With a furious roar she fixed her glance on the next enemy, a bear with a lance. Dodging his attack, she thrust her fist forward, hitting him square in the stomach. He doubled over, loosening his grip on his weapon.

Tigress forced it away from him, and spun around just to as a leopard sprung at her. The tip of the lance pierced through his chest, stopping him immediately. He glanced at her with dark, empty eyes, giving her a last hiss before slumbering over.

Killing could be necessary. And right now it was. Tigress and her friends didn't like taking a life, but sometimes it was just themselves or the enemies. In not all battle they could spare everybody's lives by knocking them out. Sometimes they had to use harder methods.

Using the few seconds of safety she had, Tigress looked over the battlefield. Her friends were still fighting well, and many defeated warriors laid at their feet. Viper was the one closest to her, busy with fighting a quartet of wolves.

Just as she was about to run forward to help her friend, Tigress' way was blocked by an alligator. "Back off!" she hissed while taking her fighting stance. The enemy just grinned, twirling a knife in his hand.

As they fought, Tigress tried to find a reason to all this. When Shifu had called them out on this mission, he had told them it was about some bandits that had taken over a village. But as soon as the warriors had arrived, enemies had come out from everywhere.

It was obviously an ambush, but for what for? Who was their leader? Why was he or she doing this? Her mind searched through all the people they had fought against. There were many. But this one had sure been busy. Enemies were everywhere! But where was the leader?

Knocking the alligator out with a final punch, Tigress stood up as the winner. But the victory was short.

"Tigress!"

The tiger turned around to see Viper staring at her with big eyes. But to her relief it didn't look like her friend was injured. Instead, Viper was trying to warn her. "Look out!"

Twisting her upper body, Tigress just managed to dodge the enemy's attack. It was a snake, long, brown with yellow spots and with two fangs pointing at her. As he hissed at her, she got a good sight of them. "What a shame," he told her. "You sure are a beauty."

He sprung at her again, but she stepped away and grabbed his tail. "Thank you. But I don't need your compliments," she hissed as she swung him directly into the chest of the bear that had gotten up again.

Tigress sent Viper a grateful glance, but her friend was too busy fighting to notice it. Taking her fighting stance, Tigress growled at the boar that had stopped just in front of her. He looked confused, as if he was unsure if he should attack or not. Finally he made his decision and turned around, running towards the already busy Viper.

She was about to go after him, when Tigress suddenly fell forward. The tiger landed heavily, but quickly turned around to lie on her back. The snake had curled himself around her legs and was now smiling at her. "Missed me?"

Growling, she moved her paw in a try to pull him off her, but when he lunged his head after it, she stopped. The snake was trying to bite her… It didn't take Tigress long time to realize that his bite was poisonous. Smiling, he tightened his grip on her and lunged his head forward again, his mouth wide open.

While trying to crawl backwards by using her arms, Tigress rapidly moved her head as the teeth kept coming towards her. The snake seemed angrier for every time he missed his target. The grip on her legs was so tight now that Tigress had lost the feeling in her feet.

Finally, Tigress let her shoulder touch the ground and shot her paw up just in that second where the snake was trying to bite her again. She grabbed him just under his head, giving him no chance to let his fangs sink into her paw.

Tigress heard the snake gasp surprised after she let her claws be unsheathed. They sunk into his skin, giving him small wounds. Even though they weren't lethal, it still caused the enemy a great deal of pain.

The snake hissed dangerously, and suddenly let go of her legs. But Tigress didn't have the chance to stand up, as his tail instead flung towards her face, hitting her like a whip. The tiger groaned and accidently let go of him.

Rubbing her sore cheek, Tigress tried to spot the snake again. But the cold muddy ground with only few bushes and tree hid him. Slowly standing up, she moved forward, her amber eyes still looking for any signs of danger.

As she heard some familiar yells, Tigress turned her head towards the sound. And sure enough, she could see Po on a cliff far away, fighting bandits along with Monkey.

Her right paw shot straight up.

Smiling slightly, Tigress felt how the snake hit it and fell to the ground unconscious. It was his own fault that he had thought that he was able to sneak up on her.

Leaving him there, Tigress ran forwards, smashing directly into a mountain cat's back. As he fell forward Tigress smashed her fist against his skull, making sure he wouldn't get up soon. Setting her glance on the person the mountain cat had tried to reach, Tigress saw Viper finishing a fight with a boar.

Noticing a wound on her long body, Tigress asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just a scratch," Viper answered without taking her glance away from the battlefield. "And you?"

Feeling how her cheek still stung, the tiger said, "Nothing serious. Where are the others?"

"Po and Monkey are up there," she answered, pointing with her tail at the cliff Tigress had noticed earlier. "And I saw Crane fly over me not so long ago. I can't spot Mantis, but that's nothing new."

"Have they said anything about a leader?" Tigress asked, glancing at the unconscious enemies.

Viper shook her head. "No. Not at all. I just don't understand it."

"I guess we have to fight them all down then," the tiger told her. "I'll go and check the river. Stay safe."

The snake was about to say something to her, but Tigress never gave her the time for it as she immediately started racing away. Quickly taking down the enemies that didn't notice her coming, Tigress came closer and closer to the target.

They were standing in a group, animals of different kinds. Discussing, probably laying plans. If she wanted to know what was going on, this was her best chance.

Spotting a tree standing some meters away from them, Tigress jumped from the ground and leapt at the tree. Burying her claws into the truck, Tigress hoisted herself onto a branch. There were no leafs to shield her from their vision, but the trunk did most of the work. Even though she could not see them, Tigress could hear them talk.

"If we aren't going to do it soon, then we won't have enough time!"

"It's going to happen soon! Don't worry."

"And how is it that it'll work?"

"Just like we practiced. It can't go wrong."

Tigress leaned even closer to the tree, resisting the urge to look at the enemies. What were they talking about?

"And where's Seh?"

"I don't know. Somewhere out there, fighting. I guess we have to do it without him."

And who was this Seh? Tigress did her best to hear more.

"Then when do we start?"

There was silence. The tiger in the tree held back her breath.

"Now!"

Like she was going to let it happen. Even though she didn't know exactly what their plan was, Tigress knew it was something bad. She jumped out from her hiding place, landing in the middle of where the group had been.

Because when she landed, they were gone.

"Huh?"

Where did they go? The tiger turned her head in different directions, trying to spot them. They couldn't just disappear like that!

And when a person threw itself at her, Tigress leaned forward and dodged the attack. In front of her was now a rabbit, but not a fuzzy and cute one.

No, this one was twirling around with a knife and had an evil expression on his face. Tigress growled warningly.

"Come to play, kitty?" he asked, and quickly jumped away when she jumped at her. A knife sailed over her back, the blade barely touching her fur.

The rabbit was already getting his next knife from his belt where all his weapons were hanging from. "You were just lucky. Next time I won't miss."

"Let's see," Tigress hissed and moved forward. He threw his blade, but Tigress jumped in the air just in the right moment to avoid getting hit. When the next knife was thrown at her, she simply just grabbed it.

"You're good," the rabbit praised her. "But not perfect…"

Tigress' legs were swept by an enemy from behind. She landed on her back, but quickly made a backflip so she landed on the enemy's chest. It was another mountain cat, and Tigress immediately stepped on both of his paws to prevent him from standing up again.

Using the knife she had taken from the rabbit, she held it at his throat. "Who are you and why are you doing this?" she hissed at him, while keeping an eye on the bunny that still was standing behind her.

"Calm down, missy. We're just following Boss' orders," the captured feline told her.

"And who is this 'Boss'?"

He snorted. "Like I would tell you."

"I would suggest you to tell everything you know. I am not in a mood for wasting time."

The mountain cat moved his glance from her, and instead focused on something behind her. Pulling away from the big cat in the last second, Tigress barely avoided another knife from the rabbit's hands.

Using the distraction, he mountain cat managed to roll backwards and kick her in the stomach. After being forced of him, Tigress landed on all four legs. Realizing that her back paws were in water, Tigress understood that she now had found the river.

Okay, so she could not take a step back. She just had to remember that and everything would be fine.

The river was wild; its waves crashing against the few big rocks that were in the middle of the water. A few raindrops hit her, coming from the grey sky.

The mountain cat came at her again, but she blocked his attack and let out one of her own. But the punch didn't bring him to his knees, and he was soon trying to get her again.

Suddenly, a knife flew past, just between their faces. They both turned around to look at the rabbit who had thrown it.

"Watch it!" the mountain cat yelled at his ally, who had nearly hit him. The bunny just shrugged.

And while he was distracted, it was now Tigress' turn to make her move. Her paw hit the mountain cat just between his eyes, and another enemy was now unconscious. Suddenly, the tiger's eyes focused on her own paw.

A drop of blood coming from a small scratch. Nothing more than a small, red stripe.

But Tigress remembered what she had used her paw to. When she knocked out the snake…

Maybe the fangs had hit her.

The tiger quickly focused on the rabbit again. The scratch could have come from anything. And even if the snake had managed to poison her, then there was nothing she could do about it now. She couldn't just stop fighting.

She didn't feel anything in her paw, so maybe she was just too worried. Though, she hadn't felt anything in her paw for years.

Seeing that the rabbit was about to pick up another blade, Tigress rushed forward. She would not let him get another chance.

The rabbit rolled backwards to try and escape her, but Tigress was fast. Just as he was standing on two legs again, a big paw forced him back down. Lifting up her other arm with claws unsheathed, Tigress had him pinned there.

"And that leaves you to answer my question," Tigress hissed at him. "Tell me why you are here! Who's your leader?"

"So many questions…" the bunny sighed while grinning. "Too bad I can't reveal anything."

Tigress narrowed her eyes. With a snarl, she lifted him up by his belt. "I seriously suggest you to do it."

He didn't look frightened at all. "You want to know why I am doing this, oh mighty tiger?!" he said sarcastically. "An easy one. It's for the money! Why Boss is doing this is a whole other thing."

"Tell me!"

"Relax, relax! It's actually not that difficult to figure out!" He winched when Tigress tightened her grip on him. "Boss is doing this for one simply thing… Revenge."

Tigress was about to say more, when she noticed a fox sneaking up on her out of the corner of her eye. She quickly slammed the rabbit into the nearby tree, so she could have all paws ready to attack the next enemy.

How many were there actually? It seemed like they would never stop coming.

She nearly moved without even thinking about it. For so many years she had trained fighting, and now it just seemed natural. No matter where the enemy came from, she would be ready. Yes, of course sometimes she would be hit, and yes, she was bleeding from numerous cuts. But still; she had defeated so many, and she was still standing.

But when she heard the yell, she stopped.

"Tigress!"

It was his voice.

Po's.

Revenge. They were doing this for revenge. And Po was the Dragon Warrior. An obviously target.

Tigress immediately turned towards the voice. If he was hurt, then she had let him down. Them all down. She was their leader, they all knew that. She had to responsibility. She was the one that had to protect them.

And by the gods she swore she would do it.

Forcing the enemies of her, she looked up to meet Po's eyes.

He was standing about twenty meters away from her, but she still, she could clearly see his face. His green eyes were widened in horror, and his mouth was still agape after yelling her name.

In a split second, Tigress allowed herself to be relieved. No enemies were near him. Then why was he looking like this?

Returning her focus in her own battle, Tigress set her eyes on the warriors that were getting up from the ground. She just needed to take them out, and then she would get to Po and hear what he had to say.

But before she could make her move, it happened.

Suddenly, a burning pain hit her shoulder. The agony spread to the rest of her body in a second, and it felt like she was on fire. But then came the numbness.

It took a lot of effort for Tigress to reach her paw back. With gritted teeth, she pulled out the arrow. Staring blankly at it, she tried to figure out what was going on.

She hadn't seen it coming. She hadn't sensed anyone sneaking up on her.

Where was the archer? She still couldn't see anyone.

Tigress looked away from her bloody paw. She opened her mouth to say something, but she didn't know which words to choose.

Her fuzzy mind couldn't put the pieces together. She wanted to move, but found herself unable to do it. And suddenly everything just went too fast.

A sharp pain in her head, and a warm, nearly burning, feeling hit her leg. She was sent backwards, and suddenly everything was cold.

Tigress forced her way to the surface, using only one arm as the other one felt dead. Gasping after air, she tried to figure out what to do. She felt dizzy, and when she saw how the water around her became red, her stomach twisted.

The current was strong, and Tigress was forced away from the river bank. Water was trying to get into her mouth, but Tigress did her best to keep her head over the surface.

But then her eyes spotted the rock. It was in the middle of the river, just within her reach. Straightening her good arm out, she managed to get a grip on it and buried her claws into it. Pulling herself up on it, Tigress rested her tired head on the wet rock.

Panting heavily, she tried to think of what to do now. A metallic taste filled her mouth and her eyelids felt heavy. The river was still trying to drag her away, and Tigress knew that she couldn't hold on forever.

"Tigress!"

Through her blurry vision, Tigress could see Po coming towards her. Not having enough strength to talk, the tiger just glanced at him with tired eyes.

The panda had taken a grip on a tree that was standing near the river. Its branch was thin, long and flexible, and Po kept holding the end of it while walking out in the wild water. On the way, the current wouldn't wash him away.

The water was higher than his chest when he finally came close to her. The branch wasn't long enough for him to reach her, but at least he was closer than when he was standing on the land.

He reached out his right paw, waiting for her to take it. When she didn't react, he called out her name again. "Tigress!"

Her body shook slightly, but then Tigress got a determined look on her face. She would get up. She could not just lose like this. She wouldn't let it happen.

And definitely not in front of Po.

Blood was streaming out from the wound on her left shoulder and the rest of the arm felt absolutely dead. But she knew that Po wouldn't able to reach her. He could only do that by letting go of the branch, and if he did that he risked getting washed away.

Getting some feeling back in her bad arm, Tigress slammed it against the rock. After some attempts, her claws managed to get a grip on it.

Letting go with her right arm, a pain streamed through her body again. With gritted teeth, she stretched it out towards Po.

Looking her into the eyes, the panda tried to reach her again. Tigress couldn't help but notice the horror in his expression.

They were so close.

The black paw could nearly touch the striped one.

Their eyes were only focusing on each other.

Tigress stretched out her fingers, praying that it would be enough.

The tip of her claw touched him.

Tigress closed her eyes, as the river forced her away.

"Tigress!" the panda shouted, seeing how her paw on second was far away from his own. He tried desperately to grab her, but she was not in her reach anymore.

As the river pulled her away, Tigress managed to get a last glimpse of her friend. While her own name was ringing in her ears, Tigress' world turned white, cold and numb.

Then it became dark.

Just darkness.

A/N: And here we are, people. A slow chapter, huh? Nah, I like jumping into things. I truly hope that I did my fighting scenes well; I am not that good at them and this is the longest I've ever had.

I also hope I didn't make Tigress weak. We will see this battle again in other chapters through others' eyes, so we'll find out what went wrong and why.

As I have said many times before; there will be no Po/Tigress romance. They are good friends, and that is it in my stories.

Come on people! Give this story a great start!

As always, I suggest you to remember to look at my profile for the latest news.

Tak fordi du læste min historie! (Danish)