The main difference between a cat and a lie is that a cat only has nine lives.

Mark Twain

"Why were you even running?" I asked Tigress as we walked through the little forest. We had been walking for about five minutes now, but this forest seemed to be bigger than first expected. None of us had been talking until now and it seemed to take them by surprise. Obviously they hadn't expected me to speak first.

"Well, we were just training," she replied with a straight face, like the one she had most of the time. "It was just a little game of elimination-tag."

Elimination-tag? Having grown up on the sea with no other children around, I didn't know any game by that name – actually I didn't really know any games at all.

I looked over at Viper and Monkey. The two didn't say anything and they didn't seem to pay any attention to the conversation.

"And what's the point of that game?" I asked. The name of the game seemed logical enough, but I tried to buy time to find a way of getting my sword back; Tigress had it in her right hand, but I didn't want to use violence to get it – I mean, what if she tore me to pieces?

"We just try to defeat each other with our Kung Fu Techniques," Viper explained. I hadn't expected her to answer, but Monkey and Tigress didn't seem to be in the mood to talk right now. "If you defeat someone else, they're tagged."

I nodded as if I cared. My mind hadn't come up with any good ideas – only ideas that would probably get me killed by one of these three.

"So, you three know Kung Fu?" I asked as I still tried to buy some time for myself. The more I spoke, the stupider I made myself sound – of course they knew Kung Fu!

But before I could get an answer, some voices were heard up ahead. Now that I was with these three, I didn't feel like it was necessary to go into a fighting-pose, so I kept walking as I patiently waited for whoever it was to come into sight.

Coming towards us were two other animals – a great panda and he was followed by a crane that flew right beside him. The panda was big, kind of chubby-looking and he wore a pair of pants. The crane's only attire was also a pair of pants, but he also had a big hat on his head, which made it very hard – even with night vision – to see his face.

"Ah, there you are guys!" the panda spoke in an eager voice. "You should've seen Crane and Mantis before, it was…!" The panda stopped his steam of words when he noticed my presence. I know lynxes are small, but how could he not notice me?

"Hey, who're you?" he asked me surprised. Now that he stood right in front of me, I was able to see more of his traits.

"I'm Hai," I replied, trying to act cool – cooler than I was. Then I changed my voice to a more questioning one. "Have we met before?"

He seemed awfully familiar somehow, but why? I was sure that I had seen him before…

…

Flashback

…

"Seriously?" I asked. I stood on a rocky mountain field. The cool mountain air blew softly against my fur. It was night, but I had no idea about what time it was. I wasn't alone – my dad and his crew were there… and so was a bunch of panda-children. The children were tied up by a bunch of strong ropes.

"Yes, of course," my dad growled with a tone that signaled that he was kind of insulted with my question. "I'm always serious."

Unfortunately I knew it was true – he really wanted me to kill these children. The panda children were all very young – about three to seven years old. The grown-ups had managed to escape into the woods nearby and the crew had destroyed most of their village and some of the houses were even on fire.

To me, the damages weren't that much of a big deal, but killing these children was. My dad is a cold and merciless pirate captain, so he wouldn't have hesitated a second, but he wanted me to be just like him, which was why he wanted me to do… this.

Soon I was left alone with the comment "Have fun." from my dad. I remember how scared and terrified the panda children looked. Having their lives on my hands kind of felt weird – and uncomfortable. I had never killed anyone before, but starting with children seemed like a harsh start. I knew my dad would do it in no time, but I couldn't do it – they were only children!

I still had a sword in each hand and when I walked towards the children, I could see how they became intimidated by every step I took and I could almost feel how their fear became more intense in the air. When I stood less than a meter from them, I sighed deeply. If I let them go, I would spare young lives, but if anyone found out my bad reputation would be ruined.

I could feel someone's eyes watching me, but I figured that it was probably the grown-up pandas' eyes. They were probably somewhere in the forest and were probably watching me by now.

I lifted my right sword to slash, but I wasn't aiming for the children in any way; I aimed for the ropes. The children gasped and some of the even screamed, but as soon as they realized what I had done, they ran off into the forest.

Confused and silent I slowly walked back to the ship. I had been raised to believe that compassion and affection and such were just excuses for weakness. But I didn't know why I hadn't been able to kill the children. Maybe because of compassion…? No, I was probably just tired.

When I reached the dock the entire crew was waiting for me. Dad stood up front with the rest of his crew behind him. I didn't know what was going on, but dad certainly didn't look happy. Had he found out? Nah, he was probably just tired of waiting. But why would the entire crew stand behind him like this on the dock…?

"So… You're already back," my dad said. He had that gleam in his yellow eyes, which signaled that he was mad. My dad is a lynx like me, but he is abnormally big. He wasn't the biggest aboard, but everyone feared him – even the second mate, who was a big and muscular lion.

"Uh, yeah… I am…" I replied carefully. If he had somehow found out, I wouldn't want to be me after he was done with me. The law said that a traitor had to do whatever the crew could agree on – after they beat him up, of course.

"Can I see you swords?" dad asked. Whenever he asks something, it's meant as an order and you won't want to live if you disobey.

I reached for my swords, which were in their sheaths on my back. I drew them both at the same time and held them up.

"Hmmm… Just as I thought," dad said in an angry tone. "Just as clean as ever."

Oh no, I thought. I was doomed now. Why hadn't I thought about this before? Of course he'd know that I hadn't killed anyone if there wasn't any blood on my swords!

"Boys," dad growled. "Get him."

I walked up the mountain path. It was early morning and I had spent the entire night being beaten up by the crew. I hadn't taken any serious injuries, but my leg hurt pretty badly.

It was morning and I was on my way to fulfill the task the crew had given me. I had no idea where to go to do so, but I had to start somewhere. If I could make it to the Valley of Peace, I might have the chance of getting some supplies for the journey.

When I passed by the panda village, the pandas all watched me as I walked past their village. They had probably seen what I did last night, but none of them did anything – they just stared at me. I was staring at the ground and at my feet, but suddenly a pair of big, furry feet came into sight.

I looked up to see a panda. He was almost a half time taller than me and he was covered in white and black fur. He wore some kind green robes, which made him look like the village-leader or whatever. His face looked kind of old and tired, but at the same time, his eyes looked lively like a happy child's.

"It was you, wasn't it?" he asked. I had no idea what he talked about, but I could feel the other pandas stare at us just then. I didn't know what to say, so I just crossed my arms.

"Your point is?" I asked, keeping my standard attitude. I could hear some of the pandas whispering. It was probably because this old panda was their leader and they usually talked to him with more respect than I just did – not saying that I cared at all.

"You were the one who spared the children," he said and spilled the beans. It was just about what happened yesterday? Like I wanted to talk about my life's fail! I had better things to do!

"What about it?" I asked, keeping up my challenging and provoking attitude. But somehow it didn't seem to have the desired affect I wanted; the panda simply kept his cool.

"We wanted to thank you." Then the panda bowed for me in gratitude, but when he looked up again, I had already left. I hadn't gotten that far away and I heard him behind me, telling me to stop.

"Listen, I don't want you to thank me for what happened last night," I growled without turning around, even though I had stopped.

Suddenly a big, furry paw landed on my shoulder. When I turned my head I saw a big leather bag that was held up towards me.

"At least take this then," the panda said. "We saw what happened last night and we heard everything too."

They wanted to help me? What was wrong with them? I was part of the crew that had destroyed most of their village and now they wanted to help me? Were they making fun of me or did they seriously want to help me? Either way, I didn't want their help. Technically it was their fault that I was where I was.

But if that bag was packed with supplies, I would be able to travel for some time without having to steal anything.

"If it'll make you happy," I muttered and hesitatingly took the bag. It was very light-weight, so obviously it wasn't packed with that much.

"This is all we can give you, since your crew stole the rest." He chuckled a little and I could see that it was meant as a little playful joke, but I didn't find it funny – at all.

…

Flashback End

…

"No," the panda replied. "I don't think so."

That panda from the mountain village had looked a lot like this panda, except this one was younger and a little thinner (For panda-standards, I guess). But he definitely looked like the panda from the village – not only because they were the same species, but because they shared some traits, for example their noses were almost completely identical. And the way that their arms looked chubby, yet muscular at the same time was also a shared trait between the two.

"So who are you?" I asked the panda then. I didn't get the name of the panda in the village, so it wouldn't really matter if I knew the name of either of them.

"I'm Po," he introduced himself. I then looked at the bird who had joined him with a face that asked the same question.

"Crane," the crane simply replied. He lifted his head a little and I was able to see his face a little better. He had a kind-looking face, so I figured that he was the 'positive' type.

"Mantis." This other voice caught me by surprise. I looked around until I realized that the voice came from a little mantis on Po's shoulder.

"Oh, hi, didn't see you," I apologized. Mantis just raised one of his tiny eyebrows in response, signaling that he was irritated by my obliviousness. It had probably happened before and in that case, it could only annoy him that I failed to notice him too.

"So you're like a little group, or something?" I asked. They seemingly all knew each other and they all – except Po – were named after their species, which I found kind of weird. I mean, all the people I knew – the crewmembers – all had a name that meant something. For an example me: Hai means 'the sea', which makes perfect sense, I guess. I had never met anyone with such… unoriginal names to be honest, but maybe that was just me.

"We're the Furious Five," Po told me proudly. I raised one eyebrow. Not only because they had a 'team name', but because it obviously failed at basic math. They were six, so why not the Furious Six or whatever? But then Po said: "Well, plus me."

That sounds more right: The Furious Five plus Po… but why 'plus Po'? Wasn't he an official member or did he just join recently?

"Hey, Tigress, where'd you get that sword?" Po asked and brought the subject to something else.

"Eh, actually that's…"

"… Something we found in the forest," Tigress interrupted me as I was about to say that it was mine.

"Cool, can I see it?" Po suddenly asked. I did my best to keep my ground. I would usually not like if anyone touched my properties, but here I was outnumbered by these guys.

Po carefully took my sword in his big hands. He held it up and looked closer at it. It wasn't really all that detailed. It's just a plain wood sword that's mainly used for training, so it couldn't be used to hurt anyone. But I have tried to use my frustration on it, but no matter how many times I tried to stomp on it while holding it or slamming it against something hard, it never snapped, so it was made of some unusually strong wood of some sort.

After Po was done looking at my sword and was about to give it back to Tigress, six words somehow managed to escape my mouth by themselves: "Can I have my sword now?"

Po looked lost, Tigress looked like she could kill me right there, Crane, Viper and Monkey looked surprised and Mantis… well, he was too small to judge by now.

"Your Sword?" Crane asked skeptically. "But Tigress just said that she found it."

"Yeah, Tigress wouldn't lie to us," Mantis agreed.

"Sorry to say, but she just did," I informed them all. Suddenly Tigress darted at me with an angry growl – obviously a 'little' bad tempered for a woman. I managed to dodge by stepping aside, but that wasn't enough: I just had to block her legs as she charged forwards, so that she fell onto the ground a meter away from me or so.

I struck a battle pose after that, which only made everyone else do so, since it must've made them see me as a threat. The first to charge me was Mantis. Like a little dash of, whatever insects' outer body is made of, he almost moved too fast for me to see. I knew that these guys knew Kung Fu, so at that point they had the advantage. I only knew about Kung Fu in theory, but I was able to block and dodge most Mantis' attacks, luckily. Soon all six were at it. I avoided punch after punch and kick after kick – as well as strikes from Viper, which I'm kind of unsure what to call.

Suddenly Po tried to use my own sword against me, but obviously he didn't even know how to use a sword, since he held it wrong. The sleek shaft of the sword could easily slip out of his hand. All I had to do was to help it a little.

The big panda charged me, but I jumped forwards and kicked the sword out of his hand. Luckily it didn't fly that high into the air, so I could easily catch it.

Now I had a better chance against the six and I could even defend myself with the sword. When they charged me, I'd slash them with the sword as if it was a real sword, even though the damage wasn't as big – it didn't even give them a wound. But it was better than fist fighting against these guys.

"You're pretty good," I complimented them as we fought. When I tried to hit Tigress with my sword, she blocked it with her hands, which left a hole in her defense open for me: her legs. I held my sword where it was and simply swept her feet away with my own foot.

She landed heavily on her back and I could see how they were all surprised at that 'technique'.

Soon I was up against Crane. The skinny bird smoothly slid through the air as he used his wings and talons to attack me. In contrast to the form of his wings and how wide his feathers made them, he could easily attack with them, as if the feathers weren't even there. He had some pretty sharp moves, but most of his attacks were blocked by my sword.

Suddenly they all joined in, so that they stood around me in a circle. Luckily I'm pretty darn fast, so I didn't take much damage – only a little. I tried to make sure that they hit each other when they punched or kicked at the same time, which was pretty funny, because it made them yell at each other when they hit each other.

Soon I tried to sweep their feet away, but they all jumped into the air. But this didn't mean that I was done for; I simply jumped too and made a spin, so that I hit them all in the head with my sword (I actually hit Mantis' entire body).

"Had enough yet?" I asked when they landed on the ground. They had all landed in awkward poses, so I hoped that it was enough for them. I took one step towards Tigress, since I figured that she was their leader, but suddenly she rose to her feet and was about to attack me once more, but she never got to, since we were interrupted.

"Stop!" Tigress and I were about to hit each other, but we stopped less than one foot from each other. I turned my head to see who had yelled for us to stop. It was just some little panda – not one like Po, but a red panda. He wore some kind of long robe that made him look like a priest of some sort. His ears were almost bigger than his head and he had a long, striped tail.

"What are you doing?" the little panda growled.

"Me?" I asked just to be sure that he wasn't talking to me, but unfortunately he seemed to do so. "Well, I'm just protecting myself…"

"No, how did you manage to defeat them?" The panda asked, surprising me. At first he had seemed to be angry with me, but now it seemed to be because I beat the six. "Do you know Kung Fu?"

I shook my head. "No… Should I?"

At this, the little red panda's eyes widened, as if it would be impossible for me to beat them without knowing Kung Fu. Well, if he hadn't showed up and stopped us, they would probably have beaten me up.

When I was sure that none of them would attack, I put my sword back into the sheath on my back.

"And with a wooden sword," I heard the red panda mutter. He shook his head a little. Suddenly he turned to the six who stood between him and me. "You six, more training. Starting tomorrow."

"Yes, Master," they all said in unison and bowed for their master – all except Po.

"Aw, come on, seriously?" Po asked, but none of the others seemed to complain about more training. Or maybe they just didn't want to disobey their master.

"Of course," the little red panda growled at Po. "He almost defeated you all with a stick!"

I wasn't offended at the fact that he called my sword a stick. I was actually rather proud and on the edge of laughter when I saw Tigress' angry expression. She had trained Kung Fu for years, which I hadn't, but here her master was, saying that I almost beat them with a stick!

"And you; get that smile off your face," the red panda told me when he looked over at me. "Who are you?"

"Just a traveler," I teased the red panda, which only seemed to annoy him – to my joy and amusement. Then with a more serious tone, I said: "My name is Hai."

"And who taught you how to fight?" the red panda asked me. He didn't sound all that curious, but actually rather suspicious. Had he figured out that I was a pirate because of the way I fought?

"My uncle taught me," I lied. I didn't have an uncle and it was actually my dad who had taught me how to wield a sword. But I just had to keep lying so that none of them would eliminate me.