Hey, sorry if I'm a little late but had school camp and I'm full with bruises, haha. Well after the last cliffhanger, here's chapter 9! :)


The other warriors all heard Tigress scream her name before she crawled back looking down with a face full of sorrow and shock.

The others immediately knew what happened and didn't dare to say anything. They walked next to the tiger and sat down at the cliff, staring at the place their friend had fallen down.

"A minute silence for our friend and fallen warrior" Master Shifu said from behind them.

They all held their heads down and sat there for a couple minutes until Tigress stood up.

"We schould go, Rue wanted us to continue" she said, her face full with sadness.

"Why did she let go?" Viper asked between little sobs.

"She knew I couldn't pull her up in time and I was going to fall too" Tigress answered, while looking at the ground.

"Well if she wanted us to continue we should better get going, come" Shifu said with a sad voice, while already walking away and followed by his students.

Tigress looked one more time down the cliff while whispering; "Don't worry Rue your dead will not be in vain" and then walked after the others.

The Five, Po and Shifu continued to walk through the forest, while still mourning about their friend's death.

They had some scratches from the former battle and were a little tired but luckily they had no serious injuries. When they sat around a campfire everybody ate in silence.

"I miss her," Viper suddenly said after the long silence.

"We all miss her Viper" Crane replied, although you couldn't see his face through his hat.

"I know it's a great loss my students but I think she wanted us to move on" master Shifu said.

"Hey Tigress are you okay? You are so quiet!" Po asked, while looking at his sad friend.

"I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" Monkey asked her.

She didn't answer them. Viper knew Tigress would blame herself for Rue's dead, so she tried to comfort her.

"Tigress it wasn't your fault."

"But if-" she started to say but was interrupted by Viper; "she let go to protect you, she wanted it this way".

She gave her one last smile before slithering into her tent, followed by Mantis and Monkey, who also went to their tents.

"I think I still can see her sleep in a tree above us" Po said, while looking up.

"I know what you mean" Crane replied.

"Students it's getting late, we better all go to sleep" Master Shifu said while also walking to his tent, followed by his students.


She opened her eyes but only could see darkness (which was pretty normal for her). She first heard nothing but when she listened better she could hear the sound of the wind, waving leaves and grass and the rushing water of a river.

She couldn't remember anything until suddenly everything came back in a flash; her past, her journeys, meeting the Masters, the battles and Tigress's face before she fell down the cliff.

Rue tried to stand up but got a pain shot from her leg and left side.

Well this is just great she thought while searching for her staff.

When she couldn't find it, she gave up. She laid her head down on the soft grass but immediately brought it up again when she heard the snap of a little branch.

"Who's there!" she demanded.

There was no answer. She tried to stand up again but got the same result, she put her hand on the ground and still sensed someone was there, only now there were more. It looked like they were almost caught up in the shadows.

"Show yourselves!" she screamed again, when she felt they were coming closer. She tried to crawl back.

"Stop!" a voice demanded, making Rue stop.

When she felt behind her she could feel fierce waves of the river.

"W-who are you?"

The figures said nothing and when one came closer her, Rue flinched but soon discovered he gave her, her staff back. After that he helped her up, while Rue leaned heavily on her staff. Now she could sense that two lynxes, a mountain cat, a panther and an eagle surrounded her.

"I'm Shui" the mountain cat answered, he had light grey fur and some darker spots under his arms and his face. He had green eyes and wore a blue and green vest and a black pants he also was a little taller then her.

"I'm Luan" one of the lynxes said, followed by the other lynx; "and I'm Kuan!"

They had light brown fur with some dark brown spots and looked exactly like each other. Luan (the one with brown eyes) wore a white vest and black pants while Kuan (the one with blue eyes) wore a white vest with dark blue pants. Both of them only reached to her shoulders.

"And I'm Feng" the eagle said. The colors of his feathers went from dark to light brown and he was the tallest of them. He had dark brown eyes and wore red pants with a darker red belt.

When Rue noticed the panther hadn't told his name, she pointed with her staff at him while asking: "and he?"

"I won't tell you my name until you tell us your name" he answered while crossing his arms. He was fully covered in black fur, and had a pretty low voice. He had black eyes and wore dark grey pants, he also was little taller then her.

I already don't like this guy she thought, then swung her staff under him making him fall on his face.

The two lynxes burst out in laughter while Kuan managed to get out, between his laughter; "Zhi you just got tackled by a girl!" the two couldn't stop laughing and she sensed that Shui and Feng also had a hard time with holding in their laughter.

"So your name is Zhi" she said in a teasing tone with a satisfied smile on her face.

The panther got up again, now very angry, and charged at her.

Rue saw this coming and wanted to deflect his punch but got a pain shot from her leg and was hit by his punch in her abdomen, that send her flying into a tree.

"Zhi, she's already wounded enough!" Feng yelled, while holding the panther back.

"Are you okay?" Shui asked while helping her up.

"Yeah, if he wants to fight then he can get a fight" she said determined and walked to the panther and eagle, leaving Shui there.

Luan and Kuan had stopped laughing and were now staring with a little fear of what Zhi would do.

"Let him go, I can handle him" Rue said.

"Are you crazy?" Shui yelled from the little distance.

"Yeah, you should be happy that Feng and Shui dragged you out of the river" Luan said, while his brother finished the line; "he's going to kill you!"

"You guys dragged me out of the river?" Rue asked, confused.

"Yes, you were unconscious for two days" Feng answered, while still holding the panther back.

"Two days!"

"Aw, is the little blind kitty confused" Zhi said in the same teasing tone.

Rue let hear a loud growl before kicking him in his abdomen, sending him into a tree. He recovered quickly and delivered a punch to her jaw. When he was about to deliver another punch she blocked it with her staff and kicked him again.

Suddenly Rue felt a huge pain shot through her leg and ribs, she dropped her staff and fell on her knees, while grasping her side in pain.

"Guys enough!" Shui said now running towards the tiger, while Feng went to check on Zhi.

"Luan come and help me with her and Kuan go help Feng with Zhi."

"Okay" the two said at the same time, while running to get some supplies. But not before bumping into each other and as they started the argue, Shui interrupted them.

"We should have let her drown in that river" Zhi muttered under his breath.

"No, she needed help Zhi" Feng replied while checking his blue eye and brushed wrist.

"And I heard that!" Rue yelled to them, making the others turn to her in shock because she really had heard it.

"How did you hear that?" Luan asked, while helping Shui with her wounds.

"I have magical powers" she replied but when she sensed the confused expresion she had to laugh while saying; "just kidding, you didn't really believe that did you?"

"No, of course not!" He said with a nervous laugh. "But then what's the real reason?"

"I'm blind remember, my hearing and sense of smell are better" she explained, while sometimes flinching in pain.

"Ow, yeah."

"Okay, I'm done. Your leg is broken and you have a few bruised ribs but that's how we already found you in the river" Shui finally said.

Rue felt that she had new bandages around her waist and also around her leg.

Great that leg was just getting better she thought, while trying to stand up with her staff. She began to slip away but Luan helped her up.

"Thanks" Rue said to him.

"You're welcome" He replied with a smile.

They walked to Feng and Kuan to see that they were also done with helping Zhi. Zhi stood up with ease and was about to walk further when Kuan held him back and gave him a hard poke in his hip.

Zhi grunted a little before saying with a loud sigh; "Feng wants that I apologize to you, so I'm… I'm" Kuan gave him another hard poke so he spat out; "sorry".

Zhi gave a little glare and growl towards the lynx, who found it funny and snickered.

When Shui gave her a little glare too she mumbled; "I'm sorry too".

"Good since were all friends now, can you tell us your name!" Kuan said excited.

"My name is Rue."

"Okay, well were do you live?" Feng asked.

"Uhm… I have a home but I was actually traveling to the village Chengyang."

"We too! Can she come with us?" Luan asked followed by his brother; "yeah, please!"

"Well if she wants" Shui and Feng replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay then" she finished with a smile.

"What!" Zhi screamed, earning another poke from Kuan.

"Is there a problem Zhi?" Feng asked the panther with a glare.

"Grr… No, nothing" he mumbled under his breath.

"Good, come we'll travel to Chengyang and then go our own ways" he replied, while walking further.

Kuan and Luan followed him, half running and half jumping. After them Zhi followed, mumbling a little under his breath, then Shui and as last Rue, who leaned heavily on her staff while walking.

It was night and Rue sat around a campfire with her new friends, it was dark in the forest and the only light came from the fire itself.

"You know, since your traveling in a group, do you have a name?" Rue asked after a while.

"Well, yes but we don't use it that much" Feng answered.

"What is it?"

"The Traveling Shadows" Luan answered her.

"Well, that fits" she replied with a little smile.

"Yeah, some children of a little village made it up" Kuan replied.

They ate silent for a while when Rue asked another question.

"So, Luan and Kuan, are you guys twins?"

"Yeah! But Luan is the stupid one" Kuan replied, while snickering.

"I'm not stupid! You're stupid" he said, a little annoyed.

"That's not true!" Kuan yelled back.

"It is!"

The two eventually ended up in a little fight while rolling over the floor and hitting each other.

"Uhm… do they do that a lot?" Rue asked, while watching the brothers fight.

"Yeah but don't worry about that" Shui replied.

"Hey, Rue, how is your leg doing?" Feng asked.

"Better, I think, but it will heal."

"So how did you end up in that river?" Shui asked.

"Well me and my friends were fighting a little army when the leader managed to throw me of the cliff, one of my friends got me but I… I let go," she said, while looking down.

"Why did you let go?"

"Otherwise she would have fallen with me. And I wasn't going to let that happen."

"And were are your friends now?"

"Like I said we were traveling to Chengyang, I hope they continued without me, like I told them."

"So you'll meet your friends in the village, right?" Kuan joined the conversation between them, since he and Luan had now stopped fighting.

"I hope so" she replied with a smile, but then asked; "and you guys, how did you meet?"

They looked at each other before everyone of them, except Zhi said: "very long story".

"Well I have all the time."

"Well okay."


(Feng's past [20 years ago])

An 18-year-old Feng was flying through the air with his group of friends; they were holding a contest to see who was the fastest.

"I'm going to win this time, Feng!" One of his friends yelled over the sound of the wind.

"In your dreams, Bai!" Feng replied, while passing his friend.

"Yes, I've won, again!" Feng yelled to his friends, while passing the last tree (the finish).

Feng and his friends landed on the soft grass under the high trees. The whole group were eagles, some black, some brown but only one was white, and that one was his best friend Bai.

"Aw man, not fair!" One of them complained, making the others laugh.

"Hey, it's not my fault I win so many times" Feng replied with a chuckle.

"Come on guys it's getting late let's get back to the village." One of them said.

"Okay, come on!" Feng replied while getting ready to fly back, followed by the others.

They flew up to the high mountain, leaving the big forest that lay at the bottom. Soon they arrived in the village, which was pretty small with not many houses.

"See you guys tomorrow" Feng said, leaving the group and heading home.

He arrived at a little hut, which was his house, and greeted his mother, father and little brother. His family was not very rich but since all the villagers weren't exactly millionaires, it wasn't that bad.

When he looked closer his mother actually looked a little worried.

"Hey mom, is something wrong?" Feng asked

Before his mother could answer his father, who stood next to her, said; "we heard news about another village planning an attack".

"What? Why would they do that?"

"We don't know yet, but people already volunteered to protect the village."

"So can I help too?"

"Absolutely not. You're going with your mother, brother and other villagers to a safer place."

"No way, I want to help!"

"No and that's it!"

"But dad-"

"I said no"

"And what if I join a group with my friends?"

His father seemed troubled by this, apparently his son really wanted to protect the village with them.

"Fine… But only if they go too. And I'll keep an eye on you"

"Thanks dad" he said with a smile.

The next morning Feng went to his friends to ask them if they want to volunteer too but apparently his friends already knew about the news and wanted to ask him the same thing.

"So you guys want to volunteer too?"

"Yeah! We're not gonna to let our village down."

The rest of the week the friends continued to make plans with rest of the volunteers while the other villagers, such as older people, women and children packed for the evacuation.

The day of the fight you could sense the tension everywhere, the villagers where evacuated and now they just had to wait.

Feng had said goodbye to his mother and father. But to his father's disappointment, Feng was in the group that was supposed to hold the enemies back and he was in the group that was supposed to fight when they got through them.

Feng had promised his mother to be back and told his father he won't let them get through unless he was dead. Of course he never knew what would really happen…

The fight began and Feng fought close to his friends. The other eagles had armors, which indicated that they were obviously coming from a richer town.

Feng kicked one in the head and blew some away with a hard blast from his wings. He then grabbed a sword from the unconscious eagle and continued to fight.

Bai and some other guys were fighting in the air and knocked many down. Feng was fighting an eagle and didn't notice one had sneaked up behind him, luckily Bai had come down and kicked the eagle down.

"Thanks" Feng said to his friend.

"No problem" Bai replied and continued to fight on the ground with Feng.

They soon found out that a part of the army was missing but they got the answer when they came back with… firework?

"What are they doing with firework?" Bai asked Feng.

But Feng could already guess.

"Oh no…"

"What?" Bai asked confused.

"Those aren't normal fireworks! Those are-" …

Before he could finish his sentence there was a loud explosion followed by a lot of smoke. He could here coughing and some people scream. Nobody could see something but he swore he heard people getting captured.

"Feng!"

He knew that voice… it was Bai!

"Bai? Where are you guys!" He screamed back but had to duck for a sword. He turned around and kicked three eagles in their stomach.

"Feng run!"

"No!"

"Run!"

"But-"

"RUN!"

Feng didn't know what he had to do but eventually he started to flee. He knew that they were taken captured but what worried him the most was that they got through his group. So now his father had to fight.


"I continued to fly for days and eventually got tired. I didn't want to stop, I didn't know what happened to my friends and I never saw my family again" Feng finished his story.

"That's horrible" Rue said.

"But things turned better" Feng replied with a little smile.


(Shui's past [20 years ago])

A 10-year-old Shui was playing tag with his friends outside. He lived in a small but rich village with his parents; his father had an important job while his mother stayed home to watch him.

The village had a few hills, a harbor, schools and many play grounds.

"Ha! Got you Shui!" Wei shouted when he tagged his friend on the shoulder.

Wei was one of his best friends; he also was a mountain cat with brown fur and yellow clothes. His other friend was Bing; he was the son of the leader of the village and had dark grey fur with green and red clothes.

"Okay then I'll get you, Bing!" Shui replied while running after his other friend.

"Good luck with that" Bing replied with a grin.

Shui continued to play with his friends when suddenly an eagle boy shows up.

"G-guys?" Wei begins to ask.

"Yeah?" Bing replies.

"Who's that?"

"Who's who?"

"I think he means him" Shui says, now seeing the eagle.

The boy seemed to be exhausted and was ready to fall unconscious every minute.

"Hello? Who are you?" Shui asked.

But before he could answer he fell. Unconscious.

"What happened to him?" Bing asked in shock.

"How should I know?" Wei replied (also in shock).

"I'll get my mom" Shui says and runs to his home.

When he arrives at his house and searches for his mother he sees her working in the backyard, planting some flowers. The house is pretty big; white on the outside and a garden with many flowers. It has two floors and at least seven windows.

"Mommy!" Shui yelled, a little out of breath.

"Yes sweetie?" His mother replied but when she looked up; "is something wrong?"

"T-there's some boy in the village, a-an eagle, but he passed out. Can you help?"

"Oh… I'm coming" she said before following her son outside.

As she continued to follow her son to the boy she eventually saw him lying on the ground.

"He looks horrible!" she said.

"Will he be okay?" Wei asked.

"Yes, he's just very exhausted although he has a few wounds" she replied, while looking at the boy.

"Boys, get some help, we need to get him inside our house!" she said. And with that the boys soon found some people to help.

- (next day) -

"Hey mom, I think he's awake" Shui whispered to his mother as he saw the boy open his eyes a little.

"Really? Hello, who are you?" she asked, when she also saw him awake.

"I-I'm Feng. Where am I?" Feng asked confused, while trying to stand up.

"You are in the little village Zhaoxing but you should rest" she said, while pushing him down again.

"No, really, I'm fine" he replied.

"Well, okay but later you really have to rest".

"Yes ma'am".

While his mother walked out of the room, Shui stayed with Feng.

"Uh… Hello?"

"Hi!"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Shui".

"So, how did you guys found me?"

"We were playing outside when you showed up and passed out".

"Well, if you put it like that is sounds easy" Feng mumbled under his breath.

"Want to come outside?"

"Maybe later".

"Okay" after that Shui walked after his mom, leaving Feng alone in his room.

The next day, when Feng already felt a little better, Shui decided to take him to his friends and have fun. Shui could see Feng was nervous in the new village but also curious about what it looked like.

"Hey guys!" Shui yelled to his friends when he saw them standing in the distance.

"Hey Shui and uh… what's your name actually?" Wei asked Feng.

"Feng" he replied.

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen".

"Okay, want to play?" Bing asked.

"Uhm… okay but I think I'm going to explore the village after that".

"Why can't you just take us while you're exploring the village?" Shui asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Can you fly with us on your back?"

"I… uh… I think so" Feng replied a little unsure.

"Awesome!" Shui said, excited; "please!"

"Okay" he said, while letting them climb on his back. "Hold on tight" and he flew away.

He could hear the excited shouts from the children and could only laugh about the enthusiastic 10-year-old boys.

The next years Feng stayed in the village and became Shui's adoptive brother, the two always were together but of course Feng had his own friends too.

When Shui turned seventeen and Feng already was twenty-five they started travelling.


"And that's our story actually, after a few years we met the others" Shui finished.

"But how did you met the others then?" Rue asked.

"That's something they can tell" he replied, looking at Zhi.

"Why does she have to know my past?" Zhi mumbled.

"Well Luan and Kuan could tell but their story it isn't very long" Shui replied.

"What do you mean?"

"We were orphans" Luan replied, not even sad. "And when we where eight, Feng, Shui and Zhi took us in because nobody wanted us" Kuan finished the sentence in the same tone as his brother.

"Why did nobody want you?"

"We don't know" they replied at the same time.

"Well are you going to tell you story or not, Zhi?" Feng eventually asked him.

"Fine…"


(Zhi's past [11 years ago])

A 12-year-old Zhi was playing outside with his younger sister. They were playing tag when the bullies of the town came towards them.

"Hey black eyes, we want money do you have some?" One of them asked, while picking Zhi up. (Zhi has black eyes).

"No, I don't and stop calling me black eyes" Zhi replied while struggling to get loose.

"So, we're getting cocky huh?" the other one said while giving him a punch in the stomach.

Zhi cringed in pain as he felt the fist in his stomach. The bullies didn't stop punching and eventually left him there on the ground.

"Zhi are you okay?" his sister asked, Zhi could see she had tears in her eyes.

He groaned in pain; "Daiyu… get… dad, please".

Daiyu run to the house but their father wasn't home, so she called for her mom"

"Mommy!"

"What is it?" their mother came hurried out of the kitchen.

"The bullies have beaten Zhi again".

"Oh no…"

"You have to come" Daiyu said, while dragging her mother with her.

When they arrived, their mother picked Zhi up and brought him home. Zhi stayed in bed for the whole day and stayed home for the next two days.

"I hate those bullies," he mumbled under his breath.

"Hey Zhi, want to play?"

"Sure" he replied with a little smile. When he looked into those big and bright blue eyes he just couldn't say no and he didn't now how but his little sister could always cheer him up.

The next days his father only came home quickly until Zhi decided to ask him what was going on.

"Dad?"

"What is it Zhi, I'm in a bit of a hurry" his father replied.

"Yeah that's what I wanted to ask, what is going on?"

His father let out a sigh before saying; "listen actually nobody can know this, but some people think there's going to be an attack on the village".

"What!"

"Don't tell anyone!" he tried to calm his son down.

"We're already making plans, so I'll tell you more when I know more. Okay?"

"Yes daddy."

"Good. Now go play with you sister, or something" he said, while he stroked his son's head.

A week after his father told him about it, the attack actually took place. It wasn't a big army but they killed many people. Mostly because they continued to put all the houses on fire.

The army was approaching the part of the city where Zhi lived.

"Zhi listen to me, we're going to have to run and you have to continue to run no matter what. You understand?"

"Yes" Zhi replied, a little scared. He could see his mother and sister close to crying and they started to run.

They run to the forest, joined by other families, but soon the attackers had already caught up with them and were now shooting arrows at the running families.

On of them struck his mother, his father ran to her but she wouldn't be able to walk anymore. Despite of what his father told him Zhi stopped running.

"Zhi, you have to run!" His father told him.

"But I don't want to leave you" Zhi replied, torn between two things.

"Here take your sister, you have to run…"

He wanted to say something but when he saw the look in his fathers eyes Zhi took his sister and run, he could hear her crying for her parents and he also wanted to stay with them.

But he had no choice.

He and his sister continued to run and eventually hid in a cave. They had escaped the army but lost their parents.

A few months later Zhi and his sister were still wandering on the streets. His sister had a hard time but she was only eight years after all.

He decided that he wanted something better for her, so he left her at an orphanage. He didn't want to do it because he now would leave his only family member.

He gave his sister a last hug and left.


"A few weeks later I met Feng and Shui, I stayed with them and started travelling too. But one day, when we went back to the village, the orphanage appeared to be burned down. Nobody survived, everyone says it wasn't my fault but I miss my little sister every day" Zhi finished his story as well.

Nobody said a thing for a while until Rue noticed something.

"Zhi?"

"What."

"Are you crying?"

Everybody turned towards Zhi to see that the fur under his eyes actually was a little wet.

"No…" he tried to cover it, while rubbing his eyes.

"Yes you were" Rue replied with a teasing smile: "want a hug?"

"No, are you crazy?" he mumbled.

"Come here" she said, while giving Zhi a hug and despite his protest he eventually returned the hug, still crying on her shoulder.

After the hug, Feng said; "well it's getting late we should get some sleep" while walking to his sleeping mat.

After Feng, Shui and the twins had laid down, Rue was about the lay down to but Zhi stopped her.

"Uh… Rue".

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

"You're welcome" she replied with a little smile and they went to sleep too.


Well Rue is still alive and okay ;) And it seems she has new friends too. Sorry the past stories were so short!
And yes Zhi wears no shirt since a lot of the boys in Kung Fu Panda don't were one and I thought 'why not?'

For those who wanna now how old 'The Travelling Shadows' now are;

Feng is 38
Shui is 30
Zhi is 23
Luan and Kuan are 15

Please read and don't forget to leave a review :D