Rated T for intense scenes. No copyright infringement intended.

Wow! I'm back! I'm very happy to have come this far. I've really enjoyed writing The Greatest Threat and especially this sequel! I recommend it but please remember that **you don't have to read The Greatest Threat before reading this story to understand it.** :)

I really hope that you enjoy this story! Years of work have gone into this, including several revisions of the plot and various chapters. Of course, constructive criticism is always welcome, and it's always great to hear your thoughts about the story!

I think that's all you need to know for now. Thanks for bearing with me and please enjoy this story! On with the story!

Tigress jumped over her feline opponent and landed on its other side. She kicked at the cat and watched as it nimbly dodged the attack and returned it with a fist at Tigress' face. She ducked under its paw and swept her left foot at her opponent's legs in an attempt to trip it. The tan cat back-flipped away, landed smoothly, and pounced back at the Kung Fu warrior. She rolled out of the way and back onto her feet before going at the feline again.

The young cat barely avoided her attack and the warrior's fist brushed past its tan fur. It tried to kick Tigress away but she dodged its foot and kicked back at it, hitting her opponent and sending the cat off of its feet. The tan feline grunted as it landed ungracefully on its back. Using its backward momentum, the mountain cat skillfully rolled onto its feet just in time for Tigress to hit her opponent again.

The cat blocked Tigress' foot with its arm and growled. The warrior snarled back and continued throwing precise attacks at the cougar, who blocked every hit with either its arms and hands or its legs and feet, stepping back with every other hit that Tigress made. When she finally had the young cat backed against a tree, Tigress performed a spinning kick. Her opponent tried to back up further before realizing that it couldn't.

Tigress purposefully slowed the speed of her foot just before it hit her opponent's side, knocking the female cougar over and causing her to slide on the ground and into a pile of snow with a loud, "Oomph!"

"You need to work on your awareness," Tigress advised her, walking over to her and extending a helping hand.

"Yeah, thanks," she replied, gratefully accepting her mentor's help to get back on her feet. She rubbed her side and brushed the light snow off of her fur.

"Are you okay?" Tigress asked her.

"Yes," she replied.

"Nice training!"

They turned to see Po walking over to them. "That was pretty intense to watch!" he continued. "You're getting better, Zhen!"

The cougar smiled at the compliment as she swept the last flakes of snow from her shoulders with her hand. "Thanks, Po."

Zhen had joined the Furious Five and Dragon Warrior at the Jade Palace a little more than four months ago. She was a twelve-year-old cougar and an orphan; her parents had been captured and killed by the Crimson Knights, an evil group that the warriors had defeated around the same time they had met Zhen. They had eventually accepted her as a student and Tigress had been training her at the Jade Palace since then. She had picked up her training eagerly and learned very quickly.

"Dinner will be ready soon," Po informed the two cats. "The noodles are almost done cooking! Speaking of which, I had better go check on them. See you guys soon!"

The mentor and student thanked Po as he left. Zhen turned to Tigress, amusement sparkling in her ice-blue eyes. "Has he always loved food this much?"

"You have no idea," she answered her, smirking.

Zhen laughed.

Glancing at the lowering sun, Tigress told her, "You're free to do whatever you want until dinner. If you leave the Palace, make sure that you're back in time. Po doesn't like to wait when it comes to food."

"Thanks, Tigress!" she exclaimed.

The tiger smiled at her as she ran off, out of the Jade Palace gates and down into the Valley of Peace.

Zhen bounded down the Thousand Steps and into the village on all fours. She straightened to stand on her back paws and slowed as she reached the bottom, not wanting to knock anything over. Looking at the sun, she guessed that she had about ten minutes before she would have to be back at the palace for dinner.

She looked around, searching for something entertaining to do. She began wandering through the valley, exchanging greetings with everyone that she passed.

Finally deciding that there wasn't much to do at the moment, Zhen ventured out of the valley, soon finding herself at the wide, fast river not too far but out of sight from where the village was. Sighing with content, she brushed the snow off of flat rock by the river and sat on it, letting her feet dangle close to the water's surface. She smiled as the cool watery spray from the rushing water hit her feet, shivering slightly from the cold of winter.

A loud crack! suddenly sounded and she abruptly stood, searching the woods on the other side of the river with her eyes. The noise had obviously resulted from a large branch breaking.

"Who's there?" she questioned, getting into a battle position; bandits often littered the areas outside of the valley.

"There's no need to be afraid."

Zhen's eyes immediately turned to where the casual voice had come from and she was surprised when she saw a white-ish fox on the other side of the river. Spotting him was a bit difficult, as his fur blended in very well to the snow around him except for the slightly brown portions of his pelt. He was standing next to a tree, just a few feet away from the river's edge. He looked to be around Zhen's age, maybe a little older, and stood a few inches taller than her.

"Who are you?" she asked him, relaxing only slightly. Tigress always told her to never underestimate anyone.

"My name is Cong. What's yours?" he returned. His expression and tone suggested that he was friendly and meant no harm.

Deciding that there was no danger in telling him, she answered. "Zhen is my name."

He smiled slightly, but she thought that saw a glimmer of triumph in his eyes before it disappeared. "Cool name."

"Thanks…" She was unsure of what to think of him. Still in a fighting stance, she watched him as he leapt gracefully across the river, landing on her side of it a couple yards away from her.

He approached her. "Seriously, I don't want to hurt you or anything. You can relax. Do I look like a bandit to you?"

Zhen looked him up and down, from his brown tunic and black pants to his bare feet. Determining that he certainly didn't look like he would attack, she slowly got out of her fighting stance, though she was still ready to get back into it if needed.

His smile widened. "So, what do you like to do for fun?" He sat down next to the river.

She cautiously sat as well, still slightly tense. They were still a few feet apart. "Kung Fu. What about you?"

"Sword fighting is my forte," he replied. "Have you ever learned how to fight with a sword?"

"No, not really." She glanced at the river. "How good are you at swimming?"

He chuckled. "Not all that great. You?"

She smirked. "I love swimming."

"Even in cold rivers?"

"As long as it's deep enough, then sure."

He gave her a look of mild disbelief. "What, were you born in the water or something?"

She chuckled. "No. I just love water."

"Are you good at climbing?"

"Yeah."

His blue eyes sparkled with playful mischief. "How about a race?"

"What?" She stared at him curiously.

"A competition to see who's better at climbing," he clarified. "Let's say," he paused, looking around. "Up that tree?" He pointed at one on their side of the river. Zhen estimated that it was about 17 feet tall. "First to the top wins," he finished.

"What does the winner get?" she inquired.

"Hmm… how about just the bragging rights of beating the other person?" he responded, shrugging.

"Fine by me," she agreed, standing.

They walked to the base of the tree. There were hardly any leaves, but plenty of branches to use to get to the top quickly. Zhen plotted her course as her eyes traveled up the trunk to the skinny top.

"Three!" Cong started.

Zhen crouched and prepared to spring.

"Two!"

She glanced at him, seeing that he was in a similar position.

"One!"

She returned her attention to the tree, focusing her mind on the task at hand the way she was trained to for Kung Fu.

"Go!"

Zhen darted to the tree, got a good grip on it, and started to scale it. She worked as fast as she could, smiling as her confidence grew. She realized that the top was getting really close and knew that she was going to win. Just as her paw reached the top, however, she noticed that there was already one there. Pulling herself the rest of the way up, she panted slightly from the quick workout. She and Cong both shifted their weight to balance with the slightly swaying treetop.

"Great race!" Cong congratulated. "You're pretty fast!"

"Thanks," Zhen replied. "You're very fast too!" She looked at the ground below. It seemed pretty far away from where she was standing. She turned her gaze back to him. "How did you do that?"

"What?"

"Climb so fast!"

He shrugged. "I've always loved to climb stuff. Even when I was little I would climb tall trees like this one. Obviously not as fast as now, but you get the idea."

She nodded, watching him as he settled onto one of the few sturdy branches at the top of the tree. "How come I've never seen you around before?" she asked him.

She noticed that his expression was guarded as he answered. "I'm kind of the traveling type. You know, just visiting places, not really settling down anywhere specific."

"You travel alone?" she inquired, incredulous. He was only a little older than her! Even she knew that he shouldn't be traveling on his own at such a young age, especially with all of the bandits lurking around.

"No," he replied quickly, seeing her expression. "I travel with a group."

"Oh. What are they like?"

"Rough around the edges, but they're fine. They're kind of all I've got right now." His demeanor changed as soon as he said those words as if he hadn't meant to say them. He seemed… sad and angry at the same time.

"It's okay," she assured him, smiling. "I know the feeling."

Cong looked at Zhen as though he didn't believe her. "Really?"

"Yeah," she responded. "I'm kind of in a similar situation."

"I've never met someone like me," he said, so quietly that she wasn't sure if he'd meant to say it out loud.

"Well, we're never alone," she told him. It was something that the Five and Po had taught her.

"What do you mean?" He seemed genuinely curious.

"Well, I know that my family is always here for me, even when they're not around… It's hard to explain." She gave a small sigh. "I don't know how to explain it, actually."

"That's okay. I think I know what you mean," he told her.

Zhen felt relieved that she didn't have to try and explain it further.

She was about to settle on one of the top branches of the tree when she realized that the sun was almost set. "Oh no!" she exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Cong asked, a look of concern on his face.

"I have to get home. I lost track of time!" She told him while starting down the tree. "I'll see you later!"

"Wait!" he called, following her down.

She stopped and looked back at him when she was on the ground. "What?"

"Will you meet me here tomorrow?" he questioned, his expression one of hope as his paws hit the snow.

"Maybe. I don't know," she confessed hurriedly. "It depends on when Tigre—er, my mentor lets me be done with my training. Bye!"

She ran back toward the village, pausing briefly to glance back at Cong, who had a smile on his face as he waved.

"I'll see you later then! Bye!" he called after her.

She smiled back and turned to look forward again. She had to get home before Tigress realized that she had been gone too late. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her on all fours, which was quite fast. She blurred past several rabbits and pigs on her way to the many stairs leading up to the Palace. With a deep breath, she started up them, taking them three at a time. She was panting by the time she reached the top.

Zhen skidded to a stop just in time to not run into Tigress, who had her arms crossed as she looked down at the cowering cougar.

"Why were you late?" Her tone wasn't threatening or comforting. Zhen attempted in vain to read her expression, but she couldn't tell if she was angry or not.

"I lost track of time," Zhen admitted. "I'm sorry."

Tigress held out a paw to Zhen, who looked up at her in surprise. She wasn't mad? Zhen took her paw and she helped her to her feet.

"What were you doing?" she inquired, her tone holding a bit of curiosity.

The young mountain cat began to smile. "I met someone new, on the outskirts of the Valley!" she told her excitedly. "His name is Cong and he's a white fox."

"Are you sure he's not a bandit or something?" she pressed.

"I'm sure," she reassured. "We had a race up a tree. He won, but it was still a lot of fun."

Tigress smiled. "Well, I'm glad that you're making friends. Come on, we don't want to keep Po waiting for too much longer."

They walked side-by-side into the Palace. Zhen glanced back at the palace gates and did a double take. Did she just see someone at the top of the stairs? But as she looked back again, there was no shadow there. She shook her head to clear it and continued inside, concluding that she must have imagined the figure.

Yay! Chapter one is complete! Please review and let me know what you think! Constructive criticism is welcomed. It's so good to be back. =D

Updates will come every Monday!

Have a wonderful day/night, everyone!