Lee Da Academy's position, trapped inside the mountains of a very deep valley overlooking a stream, made that it was most of the time hidden in the mist with very low temperatures. These harsh conditions did not bother the Kung Fu masters who owned the place. This climate allowed their students to get stronger and to learn how fight with low visibility.

However, there was no mist this day because it was winter and the landscape was instead covered by a thick wall of snow - which the masters did not dislike either as it forced their students to make extra efforts to move around and they loved seeing their students making extra efforts. But most importantly, it kept their academy hidden from the armies of Lord Shen. The snow storm on this day ensured they would have at least another of peace. Who knew how much they had left...

It was in the middle of this snow storm that a certain goat tried to break through, using the sight of the academy's wooden towers as a repair point. Being in a rush, he could not allow himself to lose even the slightest second. Time was running short...

The goat messenger soon made it to the nearest building, pushing the door open in a rush and immediately getting inside. He then found himself struggling to push the door close as the violent outside wind fought to keep it open. The poor messenger took a few seconds to pant and catch his breath. Despite being isolated, the temperature inside this building was way better than the outside one.

Then, once his energy was back, he started opening all the doors one by one. "Master Crane! Master Crane!" he exclaimed. "Master Crane!"

Hearing those screams, one of the doors opened and a certain golden cat all dressed in green came out into the corridor. "What's wrong? Who's screaming?"

"By my elder, Master Golden cat!" the messenger happily said. "I need your help! And Master Crane's too!"

"Calm down. Follow me, we can go see him." They started running across the many corridors of the academy. "What do you need us for?"

"Some of the freedom fighters have seen activities of the Peacock Army not too far from here and they would like to have Master Crane's backup as well as yours, Master Golden Cat."

This news surprised Mei Ling quite a lot. "Really? What could there possibly be in this region to interest them?"

"I honestly have no idea, Master." The feline sweated a bit. If the Peacock Army truly came into their region, they could present a threat to all of them. They did clash with some of their troops in the past and always won, but that's because their forces were too small to take down the much stronger members of Lee Da. If they were to dispatch a whole battalion... it would be an entirely different story.

They soon reached one of the rooms and entered. Inside, the students that were not busy keeping the region safe trained with the numerous training equipment, only to stop upon seeing the duo enter. These students were under the direct commandment of Crane ever since he returned to protect the region from Lord Shen. Therefore, he was probably with them.

Mei Ling brushed her gaze across all the students that counted every size and species one could think of. But her avian friend wasn't amongst them and she felt worried. "Where is Master Crane? He should be here with you!" she asked the students in a hurried and worried tone.

"He got a bit angry and went to release his anger in the other room," one of the students, a boar, responded.

"Again! By my elders, let's go!" The golden cat and goat left the room, leaving the other students behind them. The former felt very disappointed that her long-time friend was still acting like this.

Mei Ling and the messenger entered the other room the student talked about. There, a male crane wearing a rice hat and purple/dark blue trousers was giving powerful blows on a training dummy, as if it had insulted him on a personal level and felt the need to unleash his anger on it.

"Crane!" Mei Ling called.

The avian immediately stopped what he was doing and turned toward the two newcomers. "Mei Ling? What are you doing here?" He panted, searching for air after doing so much effort.

"Crane, are you fine?" Mei Ling asked. Her avian found the strength to nod after a few seconds. "We need you, Crane. The Peacock Army has been spotted not too far from here and we need to see if they're gonna cause trouble."

"We need to go out? Outside?" he demanded with a worried tone.

Mei Ling did not answer his question and the avian looked by the window of the room which allowed him to see the snow storm that seemed to get worse by the seconds. He turned back to his golden cat friend and gave her a worried look.

"Come on, Crane," she sighed. "You managed to survive worse than that."

"Well... Storms like this..."

"Come on! Let's go!"

Knowing arguing against her any more would be pointless, Crane sighed in defeat and followed her out of the room. The trio took the same path as before, but backwards, and made it to the building's entrance door where they stopped. They waited for a few seconds as none of them dared making the first move. Mei Ling soon sighed and pulled it open.

"I'm gonna let you go from here," the messenger said. "My work is done, so I'm gonna stay here and leave tomorrow."

"It's good. It's a bit too dangerous for you to go out by this temperature," Mei Ling said. "Let's go, Crane!" The bird swallowed his saliva and headed out with his feline friend into the cold outside world.

The two Lee Da masters moved forward with difficulty, fighting against the strong wind that happened to come in the opposite direction they were heading toward. Luckily, they knew the path by heart as the limited visibility wouldn't allow a tourist to find his or her way into such a storm. Mei Ling felt her poor feet freezing and knew they needed to reach a safe spot soon.

"Say, Mei Ling," the avian called with difficulty through the strong wind, "are you sure the Peacock Army could be out there by such a temperature? Because if I were them...

Mei Ling did not answer his question. It was true that very few people would stay outside with such a storm going on. But they never could be 100% sure what to expect with the Peacock Army. Crane, of all people, knew better than anyone else that this crazy peacock would do anything to get what he wanted. Maybe he finished off the remaining resistant forces all over China and decided to turn his attention to Lee Da?

"We're here!" Crane suddenly announced.

The duo indeed arrived at the peak of a mountain overlooking what looked like a camp. Indeed, it was the camp of their friends who looked after the region.

"About time!" the avian happily said. "Let's go see them to ask what's wrong and get near a good fire camp."

"Why in such a hurry, Master Crane?"

The two friends froze upon hearing that feminine threatening voice. Turning around, they frowned and narrowed their eyes to try and see who talked. Eventually, they spotted three figures approaching them slowly, all of them being the same size. After a few seconds, they could distinguish them with more ease: three cloaked figures wearing rice hats that covered their faces. Seeing the tails swinging behind them, they deduced that those were felines.

"Who are you?" Crane asked, slowly taking his fighting stance in case those figures would be hostile.

"What do you want from us?" Mei Ling asked, doing the same as her friend.

They could hear the three figures giggling even through the wind, clearly amused by what they said. "Now, now, is this a way for you to greet us after so long...," the figure in the middle rose her head to reveal two different-colored eyes, the right one being golden yellow and the right one being silver grey, "... sister?"

As soon as she heard this word, all of Mei Ling's being froze - and the cold atmosphere had nothing to do with it. Her golden eyes were fixed on the figures and her body started trembling. "No... It can't be..."