A couple moths passed since the battle with Tai Lung, and I began to put the fears of Tai Lung's return to the back of my mind. Though I still trained Po and the Furious Five, my relation with them strengthened and I was able to enjoy spending free time with them. Po and Tigress seemed more…attached, but to my slight relief, with a bit of a distant relationship. I still wasn't exactly sure how I felt about this. The panda was very nice, the Dragon Warrior, a great cook, and a loyal friend, but some part of me, and I'd recently discovered how very large that part was, would always be protective of my little Tigress.

This morning, the snow was falling. It was winter, but this was very unusual for this part of China. And so, I let them off training for the day, as rare as the thick snow that began to blanket the ground. Breakfast had passed and I had been meditating in the empty training hall. When I went outside to enjoy the snow, I found with some surprise, that they were already outside, playing. My mind had almost wandered at that curiosity, when a missile flew at me from behind.

Sensing it, I ducked and jumped into the air while flicking it upwards with my foot, back flipped, and landed noiselessly in the cold snow. Catching it, I smirked at my attacker's attempt to catch me off guard.

"Nice catch, Master," Po giggled. Annoyed at his snickering childish tone, I pitched the snowball I'd caught with deadly speed and accuracy, causing it to explode in his face.

"If only you could catch as well," Tigress calmly sneered as he fell down with a yelp, Viper snickered discretely, and Mantis snorted, thoroughly exasperated with the two constantly verbally sparring with each other.

"Gotcha!" Monkey chuckled, hurling one at Tigress. Not surprising me in the least, she caught it and smashed it in her claws, taking on a menacing stance. He didn't seem particularly impressed, so she leaned down and began to form her own snowball.

"Tigress, don't-" Crane began to warn, realizing this could trigger a fully escalated snow war. He didn't even get a chance to continue his lecture though, as Viper threw an

accurate one with a little zip to it, hitting him with a squawk of surprise. The winter scene erupted into friendly, teasing laughter and flying snow.

Po managed to hide behind a snow pile and surprise Tigress with a snowball right down the neck of her shirt. With a high pitched squeal of fright and fury, she whipped around and cuffed him several times before he could quickly back away. Shuddering and shaking the snow off of her, she hissed angrily at him.

"Pussy," he teased.

"What did you call me," she growled, turning on him.

"Erm…" he stuttered, realizing he had gotten into a heap of trouble with her. Grinning, I wondered what she would do now.

Grabbing a bunch of snow, she made as if to throw it at him and he leapt behind the pile of snow he had originally been hiding behind. Mischief sparked the air, and she suddenly whipped it at me. Dodging, I glared at her.

"Tigress…" Too late. Meowing happily, she began to chase me around, trying to play doge ball with me but using snowballs instead.

"What kind of respect is this?" I yelped at her, jumping into the branches of a tree.

"Snow war!" Crane shouted, surprising us in his high, loud voice. Tigress, Viper, and Mantis were ganging up against Po, Crane, Monkey, and I. Smiling to myself, I couldn't remember the last time my students had ever played together so happily.

"Shh!" Tigress mewed to Crane, pausing still for a moment.

"Don't 'shh' me," Crane protested, slightly annoyed, but not enough to risk her unpredictable mood swings.

"Shut up birdbrain!" Tigress emphasized. Too surprised to rebuke her, I listened as everyone immediately shut up and looked curiously at her. Slowly, a hesitant knocking came from the palace doors.

"Hello," a voice timidly called and I twitched my ears. The snow smothered most of the scents, one of the reasons why I disliked snow, but loved winter. Though the scent information wasn't clear, I did determine that the speaker was a young female. Padding to the door and hearing the others follow me, I opened them.

"Hello," I cautiously said, and to my confusion, the Furious Five and Po seemed both shocked and amazed. Well, who or what was it, because I certainly had no idea from their reactions.

"My name is Lucy. Are you Shifu?" she asked. Pausing blankly, I heard another pair of feet dragging up the mountain steps.

"I'm Jet," he panted, and then added, "Hi."

"Yes, I'm Master Shifu," I replied awkwardly, trying to figure out why my students were so silent in their presence. Had they all met before or something?

"Wait…who…what?" Po suddenly burst out and I wondered if our guests would mind if I hit the idiotic panda right now.

"Who are you?" Tigress meowed in shock. Not her too! "Shifu…" she began.

"What?" I growled, nearly on the verge of losing my temper. What the heck here was going on?

"Oh my," Viper exhaled, slithering around Monkey to peek at the arrivals.

"Don't you know…?" Tigress continued.

"We're your children," Lucy finished and I froze, shocked into silence. Impossible.

"I actually did not see that one coming…Ow!" Po yelped as Tigress swatted him angrily. The world felt as if it had frozen in time and I could only stare silently. My sister, my wife, my love…she had survived. And apparently, s had our kits.

"Erm…Shifu," Crane worriedly waved a wing in front of my face, but I didn't flinch. It had been so long…

"Okay, what the heck is going on?" Mantis impatiently asked.

"I don't know, but it's a doozy," Monkey gasped. Anyway…

"She survived," was all I murmured.

"OMG," Viper said.

"Come to the kitchen and I will tell you," I sighed, flicking my tail in a gesture as I headed that way. My students were clearly bursting with curiosity, since my past had always been a mysterious secret to them. Joining in the room, we all sat down, and I wondered where to begin.

"Why did you never tell us you had children?" Po suddenly asked me. "They're cute!"

"Hey!" Jet protested. Even Viper couldn't outmatch Po's subtlety sometimes.

"I never knew I did. Their mother, Ming Yue, was my adopted sister. A long time ago, Tehn-Xiu killed our mother. Our father died of illness a few months before we were born. One of her friends, Baihehua, a female fox; Ming Yue, and I went to train under Oogway with Xiongmeng, of Master Flying Rhino; and Yingzi, a male wolf. Ming Yue and I married, we adopted a son, Tai Lung, and a few years later, she became pregnant. Tehn-Xiu and his army attacked during that time, and he killed Baihehua, and stole my wife. I was unconscious when it happened and Tai Lung and I were both devastated. Xionmeng left, Yingzi could not kill his own kind, and I kept going off to search for her. Tai Lung was alone and when I returned for good, he tried so hard to please me. Eventually, he betrayed me, twenty years passed, and he tried to kill the Dragon Warrior and I, but he didn't succeed," I told them all, finishing my story.

"Whoa!" Monkey gaped.

"Where is she anyway?" Crane thoughtfully asked. Tigress had suddenly looked up at me in surprise when she realized I hadn't said he was killed. I don't think he was and neither was Ming Yue, as my children had told me.

"Yes, why didn't she come?" I asked, confused and dismayed. Maybe she didn't want to see me after I gave up on her.

"She would…it's just…she can't," Lucy carefully elaborated, eluding the question uncomfortably, and I felt the other's sympathy and fright flood over me.

"Is she dead?" I whispered and stiffened. No! Not after I had gotten my hopes up…

"No!" Lucy fiercely growled.

"Our village was visited by a wolf pack. They told us to leave within three days and took mother and several others as prisoners, threatening that they would kill them all if our village didn't leave by the deadline. It took us nearly a day to find you guys with other villages' help. We need you to help rescue her," Jet said, twitching his tail angrily at the memory.

"How did she escape the first time?" I asked curiously, but most of my thoughts were already on rescuing my wife. I could take the wolves on alone and leave Po, the Furious Five, and the children here to enjoy winter.

"She was unconscious when they had captured her at first and when she woke up, she was blindfolded. They obviously underestimated her because she fought her way free," Lucy answered proudly. "After that, she arrived at a red panda village, but she never found her way back here," she continued sadly.

"But the red panda village is only a mile away," I protested. Surely she would remember the journey we made as kits.

"There's more than one in China," Jet snorted.

"Lead the way then," I decided. They knew the way, so they may as well come. It would be harder to track their scents through the falling snow. "The rest of you, stay here," I ordered.

"It's too dangerous!" Tigress immediately protested.

"She's right. We need more warriors to fight our way into their fortress. They've been steadily increasing their territory, and they captured a castle from the tortoises," Lucy added.

"We've been against odds far worse before, and the wolves are rogues with brute force, not warriors with strategies and skill," I pointed out. "They will not be hard to beat," I told Tigress.

"You left us behind once. You're not doing it again!" Crane snapped and we all glanced in surprise at the normally quiet and thoughtful bird.

"Exactly," Mantis put in.

"Right on," Monkey agreed.

"Count me in," Viper hissed happily.

"Let's kick butt! Ya hear that, wolf boys? Get ready to feel the thunder!" Po shouted enthusiastically.

Tigress, embarrassed, shuffled a little farther away from him before adding, "So deal with it."

"Fine, we'll leave in the morning, arrive at night, and fight the next day," I pretended to give in.

"Meanwhile…can we do training?" Jet asked hopefully. Wow…I didn't quite expect them all to believe me that quickly.

"What?" I flicked my ears in surprise.

"Can we?" Lucy pleaded.

"Our mother taught us a lot," Jet automatically added. They were my students' ages and probably near ready to be masters, so it wouldn't hurt to figure out their fighting styles.

"I'd like to see how they do," Monkey ventured.

"They certainly seem like they'd be good. We'll go easy on them," Viper added.

"Hey!" Jet protested.

"You could teach them too," Mantis told me. I was tempted, but I decided to practice my skills, just in case there was a lot of wolves…not that any of them could beat me of course.

"No, you can all practice with each other. I'll join you at dinnertime," I told them, before leaving on a trail even the Furious Five had never been on. It lead to a training course, not very unlike their own, but for those who had become masters and had a lot of experience. Yingzi, Xiongmeng, Baihehua, Ming Yue, and I found it just when we were

newly named masters. Though Oogway had probably guessed we went to it secretly, I think he secretly watched. Maybe after I defeated the wolf pack and rescued Ming Yue, I would show them.

Modeled after theirs, I had the five main things to practice on. The Iron Gauntlet used gators made of iron, The Field of Flaming Wires was a network of wires connected between poles that stretched them taut, the Seven Talon Ring Wall was made of separate ones, slightly enlarged, and connected at the tips, the Wood Tortoise was very fragile and required balance and careful precision, and the Swinging Axes had axes on chains swinging at you while balancing on the wooden snakes, similar to the Swinging Claws.

First, I went to my favorite, the Field of Flaming Wires. My skills had surpassed this training course many years ago, but it was still fun and I wanted to relax. Unfortunately, meditating only held my agitation at bay until it exploded. Fighting let me take it out on something. As I was about to begin, I heard a faint scrabble of claws on roof tiles. The scents, as they were downwind in the snow, were hard to pick up, but as I strained to listen, the heartbeats of eight reached me. So, my students had fallowed me and wanted to see what I was doing. Well, this was going to be fun.

Moving as fast as I could, I found swift foot and hand spots between the wire networks as my speed defied the burning flames. The ground was hot too, but since I would rest at a particular spot no longer than a second, I felt no pain. Finally, from one hand, I sprang up, did a double somersault mid-air, and landed out of the field.

Walking to the Swinging Axes, I used snow leopard style as Tai Lung did, moving into a powerful, almost dance, springing quickly around so I wouldn't lose balance. Dodging the axes, I flipped forward and used my foot to slam the axe. Shards of metal flew around me as I landed back on the ground.

The Seven Talon Ring Wall, I memorized, so everything, all the moves I was about to do, I planned out. Swinging through all of them, sometimes only by a hand or foot, I propelled myself upwards to the top. Leaping from up high, I spun through various kung fu mid-air battle moves before landing on the pads of my fingers and bouncing to my feet.

The Wood Tortoise wasn't very intimidating, but if even Crane set foot on it, the thing would tilt almost to the ground's level. Standing still and feeling the energy of my chi race up inside me, I began to flip, leap, and dart along its sides, creating a mad race to keep one of us in balance. Finishing with that, I quickly jumped over the edge and steadied the bowl with my hand so its rocking wouldn't make it flip over.

Poor Po still had trouble with the Gator Gauntlet…and since his fist day here, I hadn't wanted to imagine him on the Iron Gauntlet. Going to that, I spun through, slightly faster than Mantis, while being careful to avoid the heavy metal arms. Finishing the course, I stopped and twitched an ear as my students began to creep away so they could pretend they had been training the whole time.

"So, what would you like to do now, my students?" I asked them with a slight grin. Their surprise amused me and Tigress growled with annoyance at being found out. Never yet had they managed to sneak up on me unnoticed.

"We can train now, I suppose," Lucy giggled sheepishly.

"We could all spar with each other," Tigress said thoughtfully, happy to be off the hook.

"Then come to the courtyard," I told them, leading the way. The snow was freezing now that I'd stopped moving around during training, but I wanted to make them really tired tonight.

Po and Tigress went first, as Lucy and Jet, Viper and Mantis, and Monkey and Crane did. We went through the evening, training hard, and I found myself becoming very impatient for the night. I was very proud of Lucy and Jet's fighting skills, and maybe had they been just students, I might have taken them along with me. But they weren't. They were my children, and where I went, they could not come. Dinner passed by slowly, but tired, they eventually went to their bedrooms. I had Viper prepare a couple for my children and walking to my room, as if I was going to bed, I wondered if Tigress knew. If she did, it didn't matter. My plans were complete, I was ready, and nothing was going to stop me.

"What are you planning?" Tigress mewed from beside me and I realized she had fallowed me a little ways away from the group to talk to me.

"I'm not Tigress," I replied smoothly. I already decided.

"Please, whatever you're doing, just eave me out of it," she sighed and left. I was surprised she hadn't guessed my plan and was wondering what she thought I was doing and why she would have said that.

Slowed breathing, not to mention snores from Po, filled the air, and the time had come. Taking Ming Yue's flute, I went into Lucy's room and left it beside her. Tigress would know what I meant. Turning once back towards my students', my family's rooms, I stepped out of the Jade Palace and walked to the gates.

Pushing them open, I inhaled softly, breathing in the cool night air. No one would be in danger from me ever again. 'I am coming for you' I promised Ming Yue. This would be difficult, and I might even need to fit in with the pack to eventually free her and the other prisoners, but I had to do this. I owed her so much happiness, and she gave me my kits. Briefly limping to the edge of the stairs with my two swords tied to my back from the Hall of Sacred Warriors, I paused.

"I will be back," I promised the Jade Palace before leaping down the stairs, and racing off into the night, scenting along the trail that would lead me the wolves.

The night passed and near midday, I arrived. As I was so fast, and I didn't rest long, I'd arrived early. Scenting and listening carefully, I found they were in a stone castle. It wasn't too big, but I scented nearly a hundred wolves. Listening to a couple wolves, I tried to figure out the best way to attack.

"Nu Hou is becoming way too obsessed with her attacks. I mean, it's winter, we're wolves. We shouldn't be taking land from innocents when we don't even use it as territory," a male sighed. Wolves loved to farm, but mostly, they loved to sing, dance, and party to the moon in general. They were a peaceful type and I felt sorry for them if they were being forced to do this.

"She threatens to kill any deserters and I can't help wondering if she's finally gone loopy," a she-wolf growled.

"Shh! Not so loud!" the male snapped back and I knew I couldn't just go in and slaughter them all.

"The only ones to fear are the dozen or so who would die for her without question because the killing intoxicates them. Maybe we could rebel against her and return home," the male insisted.

"No! It's impossible. We have no chance so we may as well stop talking of it," his companion snarled back uneasily. That decided it. I would simply get the prisoners out from the inside of the pack. These wolves seemed mostly innocent, so I would gain the trust of this Nu Hou and rescue the prisoners. Thinking of Ming Yue reminded me of something and finding a patch of dark mud, I grinned to myself. This was going to be so fun.

One hour later, the mud didn't stick together, but made all my fur dark brown and slightly hard and bristly. I had bought different clothes from a different village earlier to blend in, and now they were being put to good use. With Ming Yue's long ago comparison, I had essentially become to the other's perception, a dark brown cat…visually.

Strolling confidently into the camp on soft feet, I slipped through the gates. A moment later, five guards leapt down from the wall to meet me.

"State your name and business," one wolf growled.

"My name is Jian Dao, and I will state my business with your leader," I growled. The fake name I had chosen meant sharp knife and I took the name since I didn't want to be messed with while I was rescuing my wife.

"You will speak with respect," another snarled in a high scratchy voice, lunging at me with his weapon drawn. Ducking, I kicked the underside of his arm sharply to make him drop his sword, and grabbed a fistful of his ear. He squalled and yelped with pain, but I forced him to the ground.

"Don't tell me what to do! I will show you the proper respect when you've earned it," I snarled. Thrusting him away from me, I glared defiantly at the rest of the patrol, who seemed to smell a little uneasy.

"Fine, we will take you to her," the original speaker growled hesitantly, leading me to the old musty castle and through the passageways, until we reached a room upstairs that reeked of evil and wolf.

"Who's this, a recruit…or a prisoner?" the alpha wolf barked and my fur began to bristle. Calming myself until it lay flat again, I tried not to seem too hostile. She was the one who had stolen Ming Yue the first time!

"My name is Jian Dao and I come to join your pack, as I'm the most skilled warrior you'll ever find," I boasted to her.

"Hmm…we'll see if you're as good a fighter as you say," she cunningly growled and snapped her fingers.

Ten wolves immediately began to close in on me from the doorway. They were skilled swordsman, but I doubted any of them had encountered one such as I. They began to surround me and attack from each way in the darting skills of a wolf pack. That did not matter, for I was too fast for any of them. Sliding under one's legs, I slammed a foot into his back, back flipped over an attacker form behind so he slammed into one in front, and whirled to trip a few others with one leg. Twisting and leaping, I managed to fell, knock out, or momentarily injure them all with my cheetah style fighting.

"You have skill. Why do you come here and seek us out?" Nu Hou curiously asked, and I could feel some whirling hidden thoughts. Concealing my true intentions, I thought quickly.

"Originally I belonged to a band, but they had much less power than I had hoped. Once I heard of your fortress, I dispersed form them as you seem to have potential," I

shrugged. Contemptuously sweeping my sightless gaze over the fallen warriors, I contemptuously added, "Or at least, you do."

"You may stay, I suppose. We have no upcoming battles, so you can help guard the cells. Bai will show you the prison cells," she said and I quickly processed that she didn't trust me enough to tell me of the threats to the red panda village or that there were prisoners. Were the cells soundproofed? White, in fact, was more likely being appointed to guard me rather than help me guard the prisoners.

He came to me and we left silently, twisting and turning through a single passageway on the left, going lower and lower into the ground.

"Shh!" he suddenly snarled, pinning me up against the wall, "I know who you are, so be quiet or I'll warn the others!"

Shocked, I prepared myself to strike the nerves in his neck, viper style, until he started laughing quietly, both annoying and confusing me.

"Shifu, you daft fur ball, don't you recognize me anymore?" the wolf chuckled and I, confused, scented harder. I had known him since he was a kit. Hw could I not recognize him now? I realized that his deeper voice and the putrid conditions he lived in must have masked his sound and scent.

"Yingzi?" I yelped.

"After I left the palace, I managed to sneak Ming Yue away from the wolf guards. The guards found me and captured me, but she escaped. They didn't know I was trained under Master Oogway and they eventually trusted me enough for me to be part of the pack. I have been biding my time ever since…in fact, it amazes me that he allowed you to come alone," he questioningly told me.

"Yingzi, he's dead," I sadly told him.

"What?" he yelped and his sadness flooded over me, but he seemed to be more reserved than I had thought he would. Then again, he had been away so long that he must have gotten used to missing us.

I quickly explained to him about the incident with Tai Lung, the Dragon Warrior, the death of Oogway, and everything leading up to now, minus unimportant details.

"Well, the prisoners are all here from your village, inside the one cell. There actually aren't very many. We have to plan how to help them to escape though. I don't think we can get out of this fortress, along with the prisoners, without a fight," Yingzi worriedly continued.

"You don't have to fight if you don't want to," I quickly assured him, "I have an idea. If you can get the wolves fighting amongst each other…which they don't seem to have the same sense of loyalty to their kind, so I think they will, then I can lead the prisoners out. That way, nobody gets hurt. Though the wolves are rogues, they don't like being here very much…they're in fear of the others who are loyal to Nu Hou."

"Alright, it's worth a try," he shrugged, but seemed relieved, "I'll meet you afterwards at the edge of the forest nearest to the entrance."

"You're coming back?" I gaped in surprise.

"Well, yeah! I'm not sticking with these ruffian fur balls any longer, now that I will have my revenge on them for their disgrace to simply being a wolf," he snorted before adding, "That is, if you'll have me."

"Of course," I grinned at him happily.

"Thanks. I got to go now. I'll start the fight when twilight falls. You need to tell the prisoners the plan and Ming Yue, of course," he chuckled and slowly left the room. Now that e left, I paused uncertainly. I never knew if she still even loved me or not. Would she even recognize me after so many years?

Taking the rusty keys form a small box behind a brick slightly popped out of the wall, I unlocked the door and stepped in. Finally…I…where was she? Stepping inside the room, I felt a chill run up my spine. Where was she? Confused and fearful, my thoughts welled up inside me until I felt dizzy. She should be here… Scenting someone, I turned.

"Looking for something?" one of the male wolves growled dangerously. Before I could stammer out something, he cut me off short. "She's not there Shifu. None of them are there, and soon you won't be here."

"Who are you?" I growled angrily. What had he done with her?

"Oh, you wouldn't know me, would you?" he snarled. "You killed my father."

No…it couldn't be…

"You killed him, and you will pay. Don't worry, I won't tell my mother. She is fierce…but she doesn't think it's your fault. She hates him for his mistake…as if! No, I will wait for the right moment," he continued, seeming to talk to himself.

"Nu Hou is your mother?" I yelped.

"And just guess who my father is! You just had to be a hero didn't you, and now he's dead!" he screeched, advancing towards me. Instead of backing up, I simply stood where I was until we were face to face. His hot breath billowed around me and tension crackled along his bristled fur.

"Tehn-Xiu deserved to die, and the facts that he was power hungry and there happened to be a storm that night is not my fault. I never killed him, but if you have done anything to harm the innocents captured from my village or Ming Yue, I swear I will not hesitate to kill you," I snarled. The sincerity in my words seemed to make him back up a little, but he snorted and turned away.

"You can try," was al he blustered, but even though he wasn't so much of a threat alone, his entire pack might attack early or kill the prisoners if he told them who I was.

Wolf scent mixed around me and I struggled to find Yingzi's scent. He had to know what had just happened. Climbing up the stairs again, to the regular part of the castle, I could feel the curiosity and fear f wolves around me as they padded down the hallways. I still couldn't find Yingzi's scent, but I did find Nu Hou's son's, and it was heading right for her room. Maybe he had overcome his cowardice and was making good on his threats.

Peeking around, I suddenly felt nothing. He couldn't have just disappeared, could he? Then, I realized it was behind me now, and before I could turn, a heavy paw slammed me against the stone wall. Agony exploded through my temple and I smelled blood before sinking to the ground and unconsciousness.