Author's note: Thanks for the support guys. I busted out this chapter today and it took a lot outta me. But you guys pushed for it and here it is! I'm still considering whether to have Po or Zayn be the love interest for Tigress in this story. Send me your thoughts and tell your friends about this story and chapters will keep on flowing.

I do not own KFP, like I even have to say it.

Chapter III – Separate but Equal

It was nearly nightfall as Zayn and Daxolus travelled through what seamed like an endless road to reach the Valley of Peace. It had only been a few hours since the lemur and tiger had met, but Dax had told Zayn so much about him that Zayn was starting to regret saying yes to his offer. He was just so talkative and chatty and Zayn had never met anyone like this. But he had listened to every word he had said in the last 3 hours and he couldn't say that he wasn't intrigued. Dax was a travelling salesman, but an ordinary one. He was also an inventor and would create devices to simplistically easy to use, yet so complicated to create that people had no choice but to buy them. Dax had also used a rather colorful dialogue when he described his inventions that Zayn ended up spending a quarter of the time trying process the rodents words in his head; words like 'circumference', or 'reticulum'. The feline may have been smart, but he was street smart, were as Dax was obviously book smart. After Dax had finished an awkward story about a woman he had sold a multi-tool to and how she was supposedly 'hitting' on him, Zayn stopped and noticed the sun was barely visible past the mountain summits.

"We're not going to make it tonight" Zayn stated with a tired expression. Noticing this, Dax looked at the sun's position as well and shook his head in agreement.

"Yep, you right," the lemur stated while scratching his right ear. "I guess with all my rambling I was doing I didn't the sun's descent." In which Zayn shot him a look as if to say, 'Ya don't think?' "Well, we set up camp tonight and continue tomorrow mornin' if that's cool with you?" Zayn thought for a second and nodded his head in approval.

"I'll get the firewood" Zayn said to Dax. He pursued into the forest of bamboo and found several extra dry stalks that would burn easily and with brute force yanked them out of the ground. Carrying them on his shoulder, he made his way back to where he had left Dax who was making a circle out of rocks to confirm where the pit would be. The little rodent looked up and saw Zayn carrying the stalks and was immediately shocked at his strength.

"Damn, you make me feel like a weakling" he joked still staring at the bamboo.

"You're not weak. I'm just strong" Zayn replied with all seriousness.

"Oh yeah? How's this for strong?" Dax asked as he sprinted towards a 4-foot log on the side of the road that had no business being there and began to slowly roll it towards Zayn with all his power. After about a minute and a half of pushing, Dax finally got the log over to the fire pit.

"Okay, great" Zayn commented. "What was that supposed to prove?" he then asked with an arched eyebrow. As he slowly started to stop breathing heavy, Dax went over to his rucksack that he had set down and dug through it until he pulled out a folding saw.

"That I am a brainiac, not a muscle head" he said with pride as he flipped open his saw and rapidly cut through the log down the middle. After a few seconds, Dax had two perfectly even log pieces. "And that we don't have to get our tail filthy by sitting in the dirt." Zayn then saw what Dax was going for and picked the logs up and set them vertically next to the pit across from each other.

"Yeah, I guess so" Zayn said quietly but enough for Dax to hear him, which made him crack a small smile. The feline looked back up to check the sun's location this time. It was now completely over the ridge, hardly giving enough light for the two to see clearly. "We need to start the fire now" Zayn stated nonchalantly.

"On it!" Dax answered as he ran back over to his sack and pulled out a box of matches. After Zayn took one of the 10-foot long stalks and broke into four pieces and tossed them in the pit, Dax struck a few matches on the tinderbox they came in. They spontaneously lit up as he dropped them in the pit with the twigs. It only took seconds for the fire to spread and light the entire circle up, now capable of providing heat and light for the two travelers. "SHAZAM!" Dax shouted as the fire quickly grew and engulfed the circular area. The two then each took a seat on the fresh cut logs and stared at the inferno they had created. "Fire. Mother Nature's greatest invention" Dax said with a victorious smile. The orange mammal's statement then reminded Zayn of a question he wanted to ask.

"Speaking of inventions, what kind of inventions do you make?" Zayn questioned with his left eyebrow raised. Dax lit up to the tiger's question and glanced at him with wide eyes.

"All kinds. Utility, convenience, mobility. But my best work I would have to say comes from my weapons." Zayn was intrigued once again. He had never the rodent to be a fighting type.

"Really? Well do you have any to show me?" the feline asked with some doubt in his voice.

"Of course!" The lemur shot up with excitement as he ran over to his rucksack and brought it with him back to his seat. After rummaging through his bag again, Zayn could hear him mumbling to himself. 'No… Not that one… Nope… What the hell is that...? Ah ha!' The rodent then pulled out a small wrist guard-looking thing that seemed to be composed of leather, iron, and string. There was an eight –inch, double-edged blade that was attached to a small gearbox that was also attached to 2 leather straps with buckles. At the point end of the blade, you could see a short, near invisible string attached to a small iron ring.

"This, my friend, is what I call the Concealed Killer!" Dax announced as he held it with both hands as if he was giving out an award. To Zayn the device looked well put together and actually made him raise his eyebrows in shock.

"What does it do?" he asked with a blank expression.

"I thought you would never freaking ask!" Dax exploded as he tossed the contraption to Zayn, who instinctively caught it with ease. "Put it on your wrist."

Looking a bit confused by the device, Dax ran over to him and showed him how to strap it on; blade under the wrist with the gear box over the blade. "Okay, now put that metal ring on your middle paw digit." Zane then pulled the ring with his other hand and brought it to the top of his digit. That's when he realized that the ring had a bit of tension on it. This confused him even more as he slid it down his finger. "Okay, now in one quick motion, I want you to flick your wrist back while pointing your arm away from your body." Zayn slowly extended his arm out and shifted his wrist back and as he did so, 6 of the 8 inch blade flew out and firmly locked in place.

"Whoa…" Zayn managed to whisper as he stared at the blade with amazement.

"Now your blade is locked and ready for action. You can slice, stab, and thrust with this thing, making EXTREMELY effective in battle. And the best part about it is if you flick your wrist again…" Dax then motioned him to do so, and with that the blade rapidly slid back into the holder it came out of, "the blade is completely invisible to the naked eye! A stealthy, yet hardcore weapon that requires virtually NO experience!"

Zayn stared at the device with complete shock. He had called the lemur's bluff and ended up losing to the house. But it also made him ask an irritating question to himself; 'How crazy is this guy?'

"This…is truly…unique" the tiger managed to spit out. Daxolus then saw the awe in Zayn's face, which made him grin happily.

"Keep it" Dax said with his peaceful smile.

"Wha- Dax, I can't take this. It-"

"Just take it. I still owe you for today…and I'm not takin' no for an answer" Dax interrupted while looking him dead in the eyes with a serious notation. "Besides… it looks good on ya." Zayn didn't bother to argue and just bowed his head in respect. Dax then shined another smile and sat back down on his log.

After a few minutes of silence, (besides Zayn flicking the device open several times to get the hang of it) Dax decided to kill it once again.

"So…" he started off, "I've told you some stuff 'bout me, but I don't know anything about you aside from your name. So let's hear something, any friends, girlfriend, family?" When Dax had finished his sentence, it caused Zayn's face to drop and him to close his eyes. Dax noticed that tiger's expression and realized what was going on.

"You didn't know 'em did ya?" Dax asked with a soft tone, as if he knew the answer. This then caused Zayn to look up at him with mostly sad eyes with a hint of anger. "You're parents. You didn't know them." Dax slowly shifted his pupils towards the fire and stared at the sparks as they flickered above the orange inferno.

"I didn't know mine either. They abandoned me at this hellhole called 'Bao Gu', an orphanage that I lived in as a kid. I don't have any recollection of them or my life before then. The place was happy on the outside, but if you stepped in there and you weren't a goose, or a pig, or a goat, or some other common animal, you were treated like trash. Of course, I was the only lemur there, so I took a bunch of crap for being different. I was always told that I would amount to nothing, that I would just be another peasant beggin' for change, that I was never going to find purpose in life. If they were trying to bring me down, then they just fueled me to be better than them… Nobody wanted a lemur to be their kid. At least that's what I think my mom and dad thought of me…but I found out that it doesn't matter if you're different from everybody 'cause that's what makes you YOU… But I wasn't the only different one at the orphanage. There was this tiger girl and she was called a monster everyday because of her strength. She was teased and picked on everyday she was there…but guess what happened on her tenth birthday? She was adopted by a big shot Kung Fu master and became one of the greatest fighters ever. That's perseverance. That's courage. That…is a fighter, Zayn. Don't forget that. You don't need anyone to be a whole. All you need is you."

Dax's words slowly began to revolve around Zayn's head. He was right. The lemur's story suddenly changed his mood, and forced him to look at him with inspired eyes.

"Our differences are our strengths, not our downfalls"

Zayn couldn't help but crack a half smile and look at Dax with a grateful glare.

"Thanks, Dax…"

"Don't mention it, Zayn." With that, the tiger tipped the log he was sitting on over and used it as a head rest and quickly fell asleep, while Daxolus never moved his eyes away from fire.

"You and I aren't so different tiger… You and I aren't so different."