Due to computer problems, this chapter came late, and I'm sorry for that. My dad got it figured out though, so here it is! And now that the problem's fixed, I can get a lot more writing done.

So, here's chapter 21!

This chapter starts in Tigress POV.

"So… you remember Tyrone and Master Shifu, but not us?" Po asked me for the fifth time.

Exasperated, I sighed. "Yes, Po. You and the others seem a little familiar, but I don't remember you very well."

Po had been making introductions, told a large ox and a crocodile that I had lost my memory, and had started trying to explain everything that had apparently happened over the past month. Everyone except Master Shifu, who was talking to the ox and crocodile, were seated next to a campfire, as the air was chilly. I could easily sense that winter was on its way.

"Po," Viper gently told him, "I don't think that we can do much else."

The panda looked crestfallen. "But… there has got to be something that'll make her remember… Tai Lung, Shen, Hēisè De Dúyè, Ty—"

"Hēisè De Dúyè?" I repeated, a spark of resignation igniting. "She sounds familiar…"

Po got excited. "Yeah! She's your rival, a Komodo dragon… she likes to use poison on you."

Slowly, an image of her appeared in my mind. I growled as I started to remember all the pain that she… and an army of foxes… had inflicted on me and my friends. "She has an army of foxes," I stated.

"Yes!" Po cheered. "The Crimson Knights! And she seems to really want you dead, and her army does too."

"I remember that," I said bitterly. "I had a rival in that army…"

"Yeah!" he exclaimed. "And they were all under the command of Tyrone."

I narrowed my eyes. Tyrone. My brother. "He will pay for what he's done," I seethed, anger boiling inside of me.

Po nodded, apparently forgetting that he thought Tyrone was dead. "Oh yeah. He's gonna feel the thunda!" He pumped his fist in the air, as if he had already triumphed against the tiger.

His enthusiastic attitude put a tiny smile on my face. Looking around at the other animals around me, I started remembering them more.

"I remember now…" I started, concentrating hard as the memories came back into existence. Suddenly, images of fire and my terrified mother invaded my brain, and I flinched involuntarily.

"Tigress?" Po's voice was full of concern. "You okay?"

"I just… remembered something painful," I told him. It wasn't a complete lie, after all.

"Oh."

I shook my head. "Let's get some rest. Master Ox will tell us his plan in the morning."

And with that, I turned my back to the fire and lay down on my sleeping mat, quickly falling into a light, uneasy sleep.

I blinked in surprise. First off, she was very blunt and obviously uncomfortable. Second, she had said 'Master Ox', and I hadn't really told her his name. Shrugging it off and hoping that her memory would return fast, I found a comfortable position and fell asleep.

I wasn't asleep long before something gently prodded my shoulder, waking me up.

"Huh…?" I muttered sleepily, wanting to go back to sleep.

"Po," I heard a voice whisper.

Recognizing the voice as Viper's, I lifted my head and turned to look at her. She was wide awake, and gestured with her head over at Tigress.

Or rather, at Tigress' empty sleeping mat. Abruptly awake, I looked around, scanning the cave with my eyes in search for her.

"I'll go find her," I whispered to Viper, and she nodded.

Getting to my feet, I carefully walked over and between people until I came to the entrance of the cave. Looking around, I gazed at the peaceful mountains. The full moon shed enough light to see quite well, and I marveled at the beautiful sight. Turning around, I jumped backward, almost shouting in surprise due to seeing Tigress crouched on a ledge not five feet above me, her fierce, glowing eyes piercing mine as she stared down at me.

"Tigress!" I tried to keep my voice low as I attempted to steady my now rapidly beating heart, which wasn't working very well. "What… what're you doing out here?"

"Keeping a lookout," she replied. She pointed behind me, and I turned to see what she had seen, only to find myself looking at the mountains.

"Uh, Tigress? I don't see anything," I reported, looking back at her.

She rolled her eyes. "You're too low. Come up here, and you'll see."

"Um… I can't climb or jump that high," I reminded her.

She sighed. "Just jump as high as you can, and I'll pull you the rest of the way."

"Okay…" I hesitated, before jumping as high as I could, which was about a foot high, if that.

Tigress lurched forward, grabbing my wrists and hoisting me up onto her ledge. I marveled at how she made it look so effortless. I grunted as I got a foothold on the ledge, and Tigress helped me the rest of the way up. Then, she pointed again. This time, I could see the entrance to a large cave, which was only about two hundred feet away from us. It was lit up with only a campfire, and I gasped as I realized that the animals surrounding the fire were Crimson Knights. Most of them looked asleep, but there were at least ten of them awake, all of which were obviously guards to alert the others in case of intruders.

"Oh no!" I exclaimed, trying to keep my voice as quiet as possible. "Tigress, we gotta warn Masters Ox and Croc!"

"In the morning," she responded. "It's too dangerous right now. I'll keep a lookout and warn them if the Knights do anything suspicious. You should get some sleep."

"What about you? You need sleep too," I accused, folding my arms over my chest.

"I've gotten enough sleep over the past few days, don't you think? I'm fine; I'm not even tired," she insisted. "Now go to sleep. Trust me, Po, I'm fine."

I looked at her, trying to figure out if she was telling the truth or not. She didn't look tired, so that much I believed. Finally, I sighed in defeat. "Okay."

She helped me get down without hurting myself, and I swiftly made my way carefully back to my sleeping mat. Settling down on it, I rolled around and shifted until I finally fell asleep.

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I yawned drowsily as I woke up, groaning as I stretched. Suddenly remembered what happened last night, I quickly rubbed the sleep from my eyes and got up, finding, to my slight surprise, that I was the last one up. Everyone else was already awake, busy eating or getting packs prepared for whatever Ox was planning. Looking around, I realized that Tigress was nowhere to be found. She's probably still out there, I thought silently.

"Morning, Po," Viper greeted cheerily. "Sleep well?"

Her happy mood helped mine to enlighten. "Yeah, it was pretty good."

"Did you find Tigress? I fell asleep after you left."

"Yeah, she put herself on lookout duty. She was… wait, where is she? Has she come back in?" I asked, worry starting to find its way into my mind. What if the Knights got her? I mentally shook my head; no, Tigress was too strong.

Viper looked around. "I guess she hasn't come back yet," she finally answered. "I'll go find her this time. Where was she, last you saw her?"

"She was on a ledge just above the cave entrance," I replied.

Viper nodded in response before slithering away, towards the entrance of the cave. Watching her, I soon got distracted by Master Croc giving me my breakfast.

"So, what's our plan?" I inquired.

"Tigress informed us of the Knight's camp," he responded. "Our plan is to ambush it tonight. With the element of surprise, we should win. Our hope is to finally eliminate the Crimson Knights once and for all."

My eyes widened. "You really think we'll be able to do it?"

A determined expression came to his face. "We must do it soon, or else China is doomed."

I nodded. We had to destroy them, for sure. We can't afford to lose. "Where's Tigress now? I don't see her anywhere."

"She's still on lookout," he told me.

"Oh, okay." I turned my gaze to the front of the cave just as Tigress and Viper came in.

"Listen up, everyone!" Master Ox's booming voice thundered, instantly gaining everyone's attention. "We've made a plan, and I won't repeat it, so you'd better pay attention!"

I glanced over at Po as he got into position behind a bush, before returning to watching the Knights from my spot in a tree, right above the camp. I took a silent, deep breath, thinking about what I volunteered to do. Everyone's direct participation was required; everyone knew that if one person were to disobey the orders they had been given, we were all likely to get captured or killed. We could all easily see the seventy or so foxes huddled in their cave, listening to their lizard master. Ox's army, though many had been killed in the previous battle, numbered about thirty. I could barely hear what the Crimson Knights and their leader were saying.

"Why hasn't Niko sent us the signal yet?" one fox complained, obviously impatient. "I can't wait to sink my teeth into those traitors!"

"Patience," the Komodo dragon spat. "We'll fight them soon, when that bear tells us of their arrival. Remember, Tigress is mine if she's still alive."

I resisted a growl, and took my eyes off of the cave and back to the ground below me. From this huge tree that bent over the rocky clearing, I could drop down almost any and everywhere, which was the plan. The space between the tree and the ground was about twelve feet, which helped. I perked up as I heard the faint signal, and watched as some animals from Ox's army shot arrows into the cave. Instantly, cries, yelps, and shouts of pain emanated from the foxes, and the army ran out of their cave. They quickly noticed half of Ox's army, with Master Croc in the lead, emerge from the bushes across from their cave. They snarled at their enemy, taunting the evildoers to attack.

Hēisè De Dúyè and her army were about to, when the other half of Ox's army, this half with Ox at their head, appeared above their cave on a large ledge, and five of them shot arrows at the lizard's army. They took out about seven of the dogs, and they were quickly alerted of their foes. As Hēisè De Dúyè's army turned to their enemy on the cave, the other half of our army surged forward, starting to cut down the foxes in their confusion. I watched my friends and master battle, before taking position above Hēisè De Dúyè. Just before she could rip her claws across a wolf's muzzle, I dropped down on her, driving her to the ground with my weight. The wolf gave me a grateful look before fighting off another fox.

Hēisè De Dúyè swiftly turned and shoved me off. Her eyes widened when she saw it was me. "You're alive?" She didn't sound happy, and her eyes narrowed angrily. "How many times do I have to kill you?!"

She lunged forward, but I ducked, twisted, and kicked her stomach, sending her into a fox. I quickly turned and faced her, the raging sounds of battle thundering in my sensitive ears.

"Try nine times," I deadpanned, sidestepping her clawed fist.

She didn't respond, instead throwing several different attacks at me. Each attack was filled with anger and determination to hurt me. Somehow, I managed to dodge every one, though I was unsure how. Even so, I was only able to keep up my evasive maneuvers for about a minute, before she decided to use her tail. With a grunt of slight pain and annoyance, I felt her tail whack the back of my knees, immediately sending me to the rocky ground. I hardly felt a large, sharp rock pierce my left arm as I landed on it, as I could only feel the pressure of the rock and the wetness of the wound as it started to bleed.

I paid it no heed, however, and swiftly rolled backwards; Hēisè De Dúyè's curved claws dug into the dirt where my neck had been. I rolled to my feet and stood, swinging my fist in an uppercut as she came forward. My fist connected with her jaw, sending her reeling backwards. I quickly ran at her as she regained her composure, and I jump-kicked her down to the ground. Pouncing on top of her, I pinned her to the ground, growling fiercely.

"It ends here," I snarled.

Grabbing a nearby sword that had fallen to the ground, I raised it into the air and into a striking position. Glaring into Hēisè De Dúyè's black eyes, I saw one emotion that had been void in her gaze every time I had previously seen her; fear.

I thrust the sword down toward her chest, but she dodged the attack by suddenly pitching her head forward, and her head hit my chest forcefully, sending me off her and onto my back. I barely managed to keep a hold on the sword, and I swung it at the lizard as she launched herself at me. She shouted out in pain as the sword sliced across her chest. The wound wasn't deep enough to be very fatal, but I knew it would cause a lot of damage and pain to her.

As she came back at me and hit the sword from my hand, I realized that I was backed up against the tree that I'd jumped from. An idea coming to mind, I ducked under her claws, and they raked deeply into the trunk of the tree, taking out a large chunk of the wood.

"Glad I took out your 'leader'?" I taunted, back to my full height.

"Actually, yes," she replied sharply. "Now, with him out of the way, I can finally kill you."

Hēisè De Dúyè darted forward again, this time aiming for my middle. I saw this just in time and rolled out of the way, allowing her claws to weaken the tree even more. Just a little more, I thought, trying to coax the lizard to lash at me again. Finally, I managed to agitate her enough to swing once more.

Her claws easily tore through the trunk, and I knew it was enough, especially with the way the tree was leaning. The huge tree started creaking as it broke from lack of support, slowly at first. Hēisè De Dúyè's eyes widened with realization, and she reacted quickly, soon pinning me against the trunk. I let her do it, however, because she was playing into my trap. As the fall of the tree sped up, I swiftly brought my knee up, hitting the reptile in the stomach and distracting her enough for me to land a hard blow to her chest, sending her backwards with a loud yell of pain. She landed on her back, and had no time to react.

The tree fell completely, and I ducked low to avoid getting squashed under its bulk. Dust was aroused from the ground as it landed, coating the air thickly. I coughed unwillingly, until the dust cleared and I could see clearly again. Looking up and straightening, it was obvious that the Komodo dragon was dead; the tree lay on the ground, the only evidence of the crushed reptile being half of her arm sticking out from under the huge, thick trunk.

It was then that the realization hit me like a brick; Hēisè De Dúyè was dead.

Suddenly noticing that the noises of battle were gone, I looked around to find everyone staring at me, a look of fear and disbelief on the faces of the enemy foxes. Then, with yelps and barks of alarm, they bounded off in different directions, and soon only my allies and I were left in the clearing.

Po approached me, his eyes wider than I'd ever seen them. "You… you killed her?"

I sighed. "Po, there was nothing else I could do. You know how evil she was. If we had let her live, she would've raised another army, even if we had defeated the one she already had. It would have been a continuous cycle, had we not ended it."

"I know…" His voice drifted off for a few seconds, before he spoke again. "So it's over now? We've really defeated the Crimson Knights?"

I gave him a small smile. "Yeah, it's really over. With Tyrone, Niko, and Hēisè De Dúyè gone, they have no one to rule them anymore."

A broad smile crossed his face. "Wow… we did it! We won!" He cheered as he pumped his fist in the air, and everyone broke out in triumphant celebration.

I smiled a bit wider. We had won; it was really over. Our enemies were close to gone, with less than twenty Knights left in all of China. We had fought hard, and it was worth it in the end. We were victorious, and this war was over.

And yet, I still felt an overshadowing feeling, and I somehow knew it wasn't over. Something inside of me told me that Tyrone wasn't dead, but I shook the feeling away. I could dwell on the strange feeling later; right now, I just wanted to celebrate our sweet victory with my friends and master, who I considered family.

We had won, it was all over, and we had nothing more to worry about… I hoped.

*gasp* Is Tyrone seriously still alive? If he is, how on earth could he have survived all of those rocks? And wow, Hēisè De Dúyè is really gone… it happened so fast; I could hardly believe it myself! Please tell me what you think!

This chapter came into existence thanks to my reviewers; Lord of the Tsurani, AnimationGirl, D, Tigressfan12, moonlight fire xx, and zteerizle! You people are so awesome, you rock!

Tell me your thoughts of this chapter in a review! Have a fantastic day/night, everyone!

8/15/2012