IMPORTANT NOTE: This story will be slightly revised soon. I'm doing it to make sure that my stories achieve their full potential! This chapter has been slightly revised!

Hey everyone! Here's chapter ten! The big double-digit number!

Anyway, this chapter starts in Po's point of view. =D Enjoy!

"So we have to sneak through the mountains without being seen, where Crimson Knights could be anywhere?" I summed up, looking down at the small red panda.

"Correct," Shifu replied, smiling slightly. "And we must hurry."

"Right… Stealth Mode." I grinned.

Monkey, Mantis, Crane, and Viper simultaneously groaned.

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We had been traveling for nearly four hours, and the only thing in sight was the rough terrain of the large mountain. Everything was eerily quiet, something that all of us found unusual and unnerving. We were all on our highest alert and I honestly expected a bunch of foxes to jump out at us at any second. But everything remained almost silent.

I didn't like it.

I jumped nearly every time the small noise of a rock against rock sounded, which was quite often, considering that the earth was somewhat loose where we were treading. It didn't help calm my worry that we were walking on a narrow trail; we only had about six inches to walk on either side of us, and after that, a sheer drop plummeted more than thirty feet down, which would undoubtedly hurt or kill us.

I was trying to be careful, but every now-and-then my foot would slip on the loose gravel and I would have to regain my balance quickly. The others were just fine for the majority of our travel.

"Wait."

I jerked my head up and halted right behind Shifu, obeying his command.

"What's wr—"

"Quiet," my Master interrupted me.

His ears were pricked to pick up any and every sound; it was obvious that he had heard something. I perked up, listening to try and hear what Shifu had heard, but my ears didn't pick up anything. I stared at Shifu. He was completely still; his ears were the only thing that moved. I looked around, worried. What had Shifu heard?

He abruptly motioned for us to follow him and we complied soundlessly. We were almost jogging, and it was very hard for me to keep my footsteps on the rocks silent.

I somehow managed to keep my feet somewhat quiet as we followed Shifu, who had his ears facing forward. Finally, I heard a noise as it steadily grew louder. Eventually, Shifu stopped us with a raised hand. I looked at what had stopped him and my eyes widened.

A massive, wooden building stood in a large clearing. Some parts of it were metal, but it was mostly a very dark wood that almost blended with the color of the metal. The structure took up almost half of the valley, which stretched for about a half-mile. The building wasn't very tall, only about three stories high, but what it lacked in height it made up for in style. Spires topped four towers, one at each corner. Parts of the structure were made of rock or metal, and I noticed that torches were connected to those parts, particularly on the small towers. Other than that, it almost looked like Shen's factory, only it was smaller, looked more like a castle, and was made mostly of wood.

Barking came from inside and around the building; foxes were prowling everywhere, obviously on guard. I realized why the building was so hidden; the valley dipped steadily downward over thirty feet, and mountains and cliffs surrounded it on every side, except for one small part, which was where Shifu had lead us to.

Squinting, I managed to spot small shapes standing in the all-around, glassless window of the tower, making me realize that they weren't just for looks; the towers were for foxes to hide in and see danger approaching.

"Wow," I breathed, awed.

Shifu nodded silently in agreement. "We must find a way inside."

"What? But look at this place! It's guarded more tightly than the prison Tai-Lung was in!" I exclaimed quietly.

The others gave me a look that clearly stated 'Really?' in an exasperated manner.

"… Okay, so maybe not that much, but still!" I defended myself.

They turned their gazes back to the Crimson Knights' fortress.

"We will camp a safe distance from here and try to sneak in at night," Shifu instructed.

We nodded our agreement and followed Master Shifu as he walked away from the fortress.

"You're weak."

I kept my glare on Chóuhèn, ignoring her taunting.

"You can't even find a way to break your bonds without killing yourself."

"Why, do you want me to?" I snarled back.

The fox shook her head. "I never said that, Tigress."

I continued to glower at her. Chóuhèn smirked.

"Aren't you feisty? But don't worry; I'll break you of that soon enough." She chuckled. "Everyone before you has broken down within just a couple days of torture." Her smile dimmed. "But I've been commanded not to start torture until tomorrow."

I tried to hide my astonishment at what she just said. Is she taking orders from someone else?

Chóuhèn laughed and gave a sarcastic surprised look. "Oops, did I just say that aloud? Yes, Tigress, I'm not the real commander of the Crimson Knights."

I opened my mouth slightly to reply, but closed it again as the fox continued.

"No, I alone cannot command over a hundred foxes. And don't you remember the legend? The part that said, 'They were all foxes, but their master was always another kind of animal'? Well, you obviously didn't give it much thought."

I stared at her, trying to discern if she was telling the truth or not.

Abruptly the door opened and I stared with absolute disbelief at what I saw.

I yawned, exhausted. Shifu had decided to camp about a half-mile away, resulting in a long walk, and we had had some difficulty climbing up some huge rocks. Now, I groaned at the thought of climbing back down all of them.

"We need to come up with a strategy," Shifu told us. "Do any of you have ideas?"

"Yeah," I said, trying to blink sleep away from my eyes. "What if we sleep?"

Master Shifu was not amused.

I shrank at his glare, suddenly afraid that he would hit me. Thankfully, he didn't.

"Anything else?" he asked us.

"What if we sneak around the back?" Crane suggested. "There might not be as many guards."

Shifu nodded. "A good start. We will try that, but any ideas on what to do when we get inside?"

"We could just tear through the place until we find Tigress," Mantis said, excited.

Shifu rolled his eyes. "Any realistic plans?" he specified.

"We could ask a guard," Monkey proposed. "After tying him up or something, of course."

The red panda nodded in agreement. "You may rest now. I will wake you when we must set out."

We nodded, agreeing happily. Once I was on my mat-thing, sleep came quickly.

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I stared at the guards that stalked around the back of the fortress. Each one had a torch, which shed quite a bit of light overall, since there were about ten guards.

"There's a break," Viper told us, pointing with her tail to a place where two guards had just passed each other by a door.

"It is very brief though," Shifu said. "We must go one at a time."

"This is gonna take a while, isn't it?" I groaned.

"Yes, so be patient," Shifu commanded sharply. "We will go through the door down there."

"What if it's locked?" I inquired.

"Kick it down quietly. If any guards hear, take cover in those bushes." He pointed at a small cluster of bushes. "I will go first."

When the small break came, Shifu darted forward, running right past the guards, who had their backs toward him, and took cover in the bushes. He gestured us forward.

We prepared to run and, when the time came, all five of us sprinted forward at once. We gave each other slightly surprised looks; we hadn't meant to go at the same time.

Still, we made it. Jumping behind the bushes, we watched Shifu, waiting for orders.

With a small jerk of his head he motioned for us to try the door. We looked at each other and finally decided through various hand gestures that Monkey was the one who would try the door. When the break came, Monkey charged to the door and gave a hard tug on it.

It didn't budge.

Shifu instantly charged forward and knocked the door down with a focused kick. The door crashed to the ground, which alerted two of the guards nearby of our presence.

The two guards were defeated swiftly with a few jabs and kicks and we all hoped that we weren't too loud.

Running inside and over the fallen metal door, we quickly found a guard and pinned him against the wall.

"Where is your prison hold?" Shifu questioned, his tone harsh.

"I'm not telling," the fox snarled.

Shifu put more pressure on his neck. "You will tell me!"

"Alright, alright!" the canine rasped.

Shifu loosened his grip and the fox gasped for breath.

"The prison is in the lower part of the fortress, underground. Take the stairs in the left part of the base," the dog reported hurriedly, fear evident on his face.

"Good." Shifu knocked out the fox quickly and let him slump to the floor.

Shifu motioned for us to follow him and we were soon sprinting through the fortress.

"Intruders! Intruders!"

The call sounded not two minutes later. The stairs the fox had mentioned were in sight but several foxes immediately ran in our way. With a loud battle cry, we plunged into the fight.

"Yeah!" I shouted as I delivered a roundhouse kick to three foxes, knocking them back. "Taste the defeat!"

More foxes streamed toward the battle, joining as soon as they reached us. Most had swords, but others had different weapons.

I dodged a blade and kicked the owner away, then turned to punch another fox in the face. He stumbled back into another fox, sending them both to the ground. I rolled under a sword and spun around on my head, hitting several foxes away. Seeing a hammer swinging down towards my head I hurriedly used my hands to push myself off the ground and land on my feet. Twisting, I kicked the fox with the hammer in the face, sending him reeling backward. Grabbing the canines' fallen hammer, I turned and swung it at a group of approaching foxes. Letting the handle go, I flung it at them. They barked in surprise and tried to jump out of the way, but they were too slow and were bowled over by the large, twisting hammer.

"Get to the stairs!" Shifu commanded over the din of the battle. "Find Tigress!"

Glancing at the stairs, I saw that about fifteen foxes blocked the way. Yelling a battle cry, I charged at them, my friends at my side.

I ducked under a blade and swept my leg in a circle, tripping two foxes. Backing up toward the stairs, the foxes started to be driven back. I punched a fox's snout, sending it into another fox, and kicked a canine away. Dodging a hammer, I kicked it harshly upward. The fox gave a yowl of surprise as the hammer made contact with its head, knocking it out instantly. I hit another fox towards the stairs. Yipping in pain, it tried to stop its tumble but was unable to.

I ran for the stairs, taking immediate advantage of the small break of enemies. Charging down the stairs, I hopped over the fox's unconscious form and ran down a long hallway.

"Tigress?" I called. "Tigress! Where are you?"

"If you want to know, look for yourself."

I quickly jumped back, successfully avoiding getting slashed by Chóuhèn's poisoned claws.

"Where is she?" I asked, making my tone harsh and demanding. "What have to done to her?"

"Nothing yet," the canine replied nonchalantly, examining her claws casually. "But that will change soon enough. Oh, and she's in this cell." She motion to a metal door that was right next to her.

I gave her a suspicious look before running to the door. Chóuhèn did nothing to stop me as I roughly opened the door.

"Tigress!" I yelled upon seeing her.

She was, for lack of better words, chained spread-eagle on a stone wall. She looked fine, other than the panicked look on her face. I immediately had an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach and I knew something was very wrong.

"Po!" she shouted back. "Po, you have to get out of here! Behind you!"

I swiftly turned to look behind me but everything went black before I even saw what hit me.

"You coward!" I snarled at the female fox.

Chóuhèn had knocked Po out with the hilt of her dagger.

"And why am I a coward?" she taunted. "He's the one that had his back turned." She smirked evilly. "And now we have a new prisoner. Soon we will capture the others and no one can or will stop us!"

"You and your leader will fall," I growled. "You can't win."

She laughed. "And why can't we?"

I smiled at her and watched as Master Shifu, who was standing behind her, knocked her out with a swift kick to her head. Chóuhèn fell forward limply.

"What happened?" Shifu inquired as he ran over to me.

"She knocked Po out when he had his back turned," I answered simply.

Shifu nodded in understanding. "Time to get you out of here. Have they hurt you?"

"No."

"Good." He observed my bonds. "These are well made and put. Hold on."

I nodded my consent and he promptly jumped and, swinging himself around, kicked the brace that held my neck. It broke instantly and I grimaced as pain flashed through my throat.

"Are you alright?" Shifu asked, noticing my reaction.

"Yes," I responded.

Shifu then proceeded to destroy the rest of the chains, and I dropped roughly to the ground as he broke the last one. I landed on all fours, as I wasn't quite used to being back on my paws.

"Can you fight?"

I looked up at my Master, making eye contact with him. I narrowed my eyes in determination.

"Yes."

I stood, not the least bit shaky. I stretched, trying to get some feeling back into my arms and legs; after being suspended like I was for so long, my arms and legs had gone numb.

"I am ready," I told Shifu, looking down at him.

"Ugh… W… what's going on?"

We turned our gaze to the groggy panda as he sat up. "Where am I…? Oh yeah! Hey, Tigress, you're free!"

I smiled and nodded, helping him to his feet.

"Are you okay to fight?" I questioned, forcing my tone to be gentle.

Po nodded vigorously. "Oh yeah! C'mon, let's go!"

"Wait!" I called to him and Shifu as they started to run out. They stopped and faced me.

"Shifu, Chóuhèn isn't the real leader of the Crimson Knights!" I told him.

Both boys' eyes went wide. "What?" they exclaimed in unison.

"Their real leader is a different animal. Remember the legend? Their leader is a—" I was cut off by the noise of a nearby wall exploding. Debris flew everywhere and we were temporarily blinded by it.

I squinted as the dust cleared and looked at the now-destroyed wall before us.

"Tigress is right," said a voice. The voice sounded smooth and dangerous; I recognized it immediately.

"Chóuhèn is not the true leader of the Crimson Knights."

A figure stepped through the rubble of the wall. Its eyes didn't glow; they were as black as night.

"I am," the figure stated, stepping into the light.

Po and Shifu gasped at the animal, or, rather, at the lizard. Its scales were a light brown and its tail was about as long as its body. Its tongue appeared briefly as it scented the air.

"My name is Hēisè De Dúyè. Tigress already knows of me and you didn't until now," the Komodo dragon told my friend and Master.

"You are no match for me," Hēisè De Dúyè said, narrowing her eyes as she got into an attacking position. "Prepare to die!"

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! Gosh, I didn't even expect any of that! Except for the true leader of the Crimson Knights being a Komodo dragon. That, I've had planned for a long time.

So, how'd you like it? This is definitely one of the most exciting chapters yet!

I would love to thank FyreDragon5, bookworm600, OscarMerrinoz96, and AnimationGirl. You guys are amazing!

Have a great day/night everyone!

10/18/13