He ran, and ran and ran. The footsteps of his fellows beside him became fewer and fewer as those that were left continued to run. The way they were running was fearful, terrified. Something must be chasing them for them to be running so fast and with such abandon, as if it didn't matter where they were going as long as it was 'away'. Away from whatever was after them.

His second in command, an Alligator running beside him, was beginning to run out of breath by now and turned to the leader, panting heavily as he spoke. "I told you... We shouldn't have... Stolen... That amu-" Suddenly and without warning, the second in command was pulled up into the canvas of leaves and branches above them by a seemingly invisible force. He was taken with barely a yelp, vanishing into the endless green that stretched above and going completely silent.

The apparent leader, also an Alligator, could no longer hear any running footsteps around him besides his own as he continued trying to escape whatever was seemingly coming for him as it had come for his men. While for most this might be a form of comfort, thinking they had gotten away and were safe from the danger. However the leader seemingly knew better than that as he felt himself being watched. He knew he was. The Hunter was above and all around, watching, waiting, stalking... Hunting . He'd descend on him like death itself whenever an opportunity presented itself...

The Alligator slowed to a walk now and looked around, seeing and hearing nothing but the calls of the feral animals that inhabited this jungle and his own heavy breathing both from running like hell and from the panic that was slowly enveloping him in the silence. The Alligator was now on full alert with heightened senses even if he felt like it was a fool's errand to even try and locate his pursuer. If The Hunter didn't want to be seen... he wouldn't be seen. Despite knowing this fact, his self preservation instinct was in full swing as he jumped at even the slightest sound. He turned his head to look behind him as he walked to see if anyone else had made it, or if he was being snuck up on. To both his relief and his horror, he saw nothing. However when he faced forwards once again, suddenly his second in command dropped in front of him, dangling lifelessly from a rope by his neck, lifeless eyes peering into his boss's soul as he hung there.

He screamed. What else could he do at that point? He turned to try and run away, still looking back at the body that had been dropped like a warning in front of him when he ran straight into yet another body of one of his men, this one seemingly placed there purposefully as well... Everywhere he turned to run, more bodies of his men would appear as if by magic. One by one he recognised each of them, until in his panic he turned and ran right into something solid. Something living. Something breathing. Turning his head in dread of what he knew was there, he saw it was him...

The Hunter.

He was peering down at the Alligator with those piercing Arctic blue eyes that were an omen of death itself for those like him while the Alligator's breath stopped in his throat and his eyes widened in fear. The Hunter was dressed all in black, a hood covering his head and a mask covering his face and shadows shrouding his features that would have been otherwise visible, apart from his eyes which could be clearly seen.

You could almost mistake him for a Kung Fu Master at a glance, but the black colours he wore denoted he was otherwise. After all, the Masters usually wore bright clothing of some variation or some kind of armour instead. Not The Hunter. His attire was as black as death, yet rather simple in appearance. Along with the hood and mask, he wore what looked like a black robe of sorts with equally black pants with some kind of wrappings around his feet and black wraps adorning his upper appendages that looked like a kind of mix between a talon and a paw that was clenched in a fist...

(A/N: Apologies for the awkward link, but Fanfic is a little bitch when it comes to outside links. You can add the https part yourself if you like. The link works either way. His attire is similar to the below image in the link, but with the absence of gauntlets or boots with handwraps and footwraps instead and his blade is sheathed on his back, not his side.)

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Speaking of fists, a punch was thrown the Alligator's way and while he was stunned, he felt something mildly uncomfortable shoved into his mouth, and then a very sharp very sudden pain in his gums. When he looked, one of his teeth had been yanked out by The Hunter... Before he could do or say anything in response, the Alligator was grabbed by the leather strap across his shoulder he used as armour and hoisted onto the back of the creature. In protest, he struggled as best he could. He tried kicking, he tried screaming, he tried biting. All to no avail. His screams were heard by none, his kicking went unnoticed by his captor and his teeth bit into nought but air as he gnashed them frantically, the pain shooting through his gums as one of his teeth hit the red raw flesh where another one of his teeth used to be situated. After giving up trying to escape the grasp of The Hunter that had taken him, he looked around seeing some of his men's bodies while feeling blood drip from his mouth. They had died in a multitude of ways, pinned to the tree trunks by thrown daggers, strangled to death via a rope around a tree trunk being pulled. Some had simply been cut to ribbons by his blade, some even still fell victim to his incredible unarmed combat skills...

All too quickly for the Alligator's liking, they exited the dense jungle and approached a town situated on the outskirts. It looked to be a logging town of sorts, plying it's trade cutting down and replanting the trees of the jungle. As they approached the town, the Ox guards immediately took notice and pointed their spears at first before getting a closer look at the figure that was approaching them. They still seemed on edge, if not more than before, but they did lower their weapons upon identifying who it was walking up to them.

The Alligator, now silently regretting his life choices, was unceremoniously dropped at their feet. The guards jumped back slightly, seemingly a little surprised before nodding to The Hunter. One of the guards picked up the Alligator and took him inside some kind of barracks/lookout post/jailhouse while the other took an amulet that Hunter handed to him and followed his fellow guard inside. Both exited not long after, carrying a rather intricate looking box and handed it to The Hunter. Taking it from them, he flipped the latch and opened the box up, the shine of gold reflected in his eyes and onto his masked face. After a second, he gave a nod of satisfaction to the guards and closed the box, locking it when he did.

One of the Ox guards whistled at the weight of the box and then saw the golden reflection, obviously coming to a conclusion as to what was contained inside. "Quite a hefty haul there. Any particular reason, Hunter?" he asked curiously. He spoke the name 'Hunter' less like a name and more a title.

'Hunter' took a moment but did reply to the guard, in an accent distinctly different from most you'd find around China, identifying him immediately as a foreigner. "They paid my 'bring 'em in alive' rate." he simply stated and took the large black sailor bag that he had over his shoulder that was seemingly made from silk, and placed the box inside of it. He walked away from the guards, who looked at each other, seemingly shocked he even offered the option of taking anyone alive.

Hunter silently walked through the town now. While quite a few people actively avoided him, some of them simply ignored him, having gotten used to his presence by now and being able to tolerate it at the least it seemed. For his part, Hunter felt equal parts like a complete ghost and yet like all eyes were on him at all times. As he walked he remembered the wise words of one of his Masters. "One of your greatest weapons is remaining unnoticed and unseen, invisible and yet out in the open. It is no consequence how you look, as even Elephants can become inconspicuous. It's about how you adapt to your surroundings and blend in with them that matters. If you act like you belong, you will belong. A rat should always know when he's in with weasels. We must act like the weasels to remain invisible to them."

With these words in mind, Hunter continued walking through the town effortlessly, almost even gracefully which you would think would be difficult for someone of his immense stature which was comparable to that of the Oxen guards he'd handed the Alligator off to. The town he was moving through seemingly backed onto some kind of large city in the distance. However, the town was separated from the city by a wall and a few miles of farmland beyond said wall. He continued on his journey down to what looked like a port of some kind, the docks one would assume. Judging by the amount of foot traffic it seemed to be the nearest port to the city, and was likely where the imported goods sold there came from.

Hunter continued to move through the town, weaving through the few people that were up and about as he walked towards the docks. Along the way he passed quite a few people begging, to which without breaking his stride he dropped some coins for them. Eventually he came across some kind of local drinking establishment. It was suspended above a large chasm via large sturdily built stilts and bridges either side of it. The chasm seemed to drop down forever. On one side, a gigantic waterfall poured into the chasm and on the other side was dry land. The area around the Tavern was littered with bridges across the chasm, and was the crossing point between the mainland and the huge lake that led to the sea and the docks where ships came in to deliver their goods. Due to its proximity to the docks, it was always at least somewhat busy inside the tavern.

Hunter opened the door to the place, letting it swing open on its own after giving it a push. Most of the patrons paid no mind to him, especially the regulars, with one or two even giving him an occasional nod, but anyone who was new stopped what they were doing to look at him as he walked inside. However, he simply didn't even cast a glance their way. He just walked over to the bar and dug into his bag. Unlocking the box inside once again he took out a fistful of gold coins and handed said fistful to the owner who was behind the bar, a female rabbit by the looks of it, who was shocked at the payment. "B-b- but you're already paid up for... The... Year..." the rabbit couldn't even finish her sentence before Hunter was trudging up the staircase beside the bar to his room without a single word. A room that the rabbit considered to be his as long as he wanted it, even if he did stop paying after his payment ran dry. He'd given her enough money at this point for the place to stay in business until her great great grandchildren died! And that's if they only got the minimum amount of customers, which they didn't. The place was always busy... Speaking of which, she continued serving drinks to her customers before they got impatient.

Meanwhile, Hunter walked down the corridor at the top of the stairs and entered his room which was most definitely his at this point. The left wall was jam-packed with various Wanted Posters, all of the faces crossed out in black ink apart from one, which was of the Alligator he'd just handed off to the guards from the looks of it. First he removed the intricately designed box from his bag and placed it on a shelf, along with quite a few other boxes. He had quite the collection from the looks of it. Once that was done, he took one of the quills that were all neatly compiled and organised on a desk he had in the room and dipped it gently in ink, crossing out the Alligator's face and adding him to the pile of completed contracts he'd apparently finished, and there were many. As he placed the quill back, he took a second to admire all of the quills he'd collected. Each one was a feather taken from a contracted target he'd taken out that involved the avian variety of animal. Trophies you could say.

Speaking of trophies... Out of his sailor bag, he took out a pouch and emptied the contents into his hand. 3 teeth. Alligator teeth specifically, and even more specifically, teeth from members of The Croc Clan. A name which he found odd, since they were technically Alligators... Walking over to a slowly heating pot of water, he took the pot and a cloth along with some soap and washed the teeth carefully. Once he was satisfied, he then returned the pot to the heat, and turned it up to let the water begin to boil. When it did, he then dropped said teeth into the water and let them boil for a while.

While the teeth boiled away, Hunter decided to check his mail for any new contracts coming his way...

Zhu waddled through the port town of Taidao, nervous about being so far from The Jade Palace... It wasn't his first assignment out of the Valley of Peace, but it was the first time he wasn't going to another Palace or estate... This time it was to a tavern in the middle of a port town, known for being rough neighbourhoods. Not a place he'd choose to be sent, but it was as Master Shifu had ordered. The streets here were somewhat dirtier than in the Valley of Peace, the buildings not quite as well kept, although not shabby either. The craftsmanship was certainly of the superior variety even if the upkeep was not. Trying to blend in as best he could, Zhu jumped nervously as an Ox was slammed violently into a table by an Alligator, an altercation apparently involving money as proven when the Ox produced a pouch containing coins leading to the Alligator taking it and letting the Ox go free. Zhu moved a little bit quicker to get away from the situation before he was somehow involved.

He finally arrived at the Tavern he was looking for. He saw the message boxes out front and took out the scroll Shifu had given him and placed it in Message Box #3. Hearing something clatter behind him, he turned quickly but blushed when he saw two Leopards making out against a wall, both of them clearly inebriated considering they'd knocked over a table in their haste. The female had her leg wrapped around the male, and Zhu was sure he didn't want to watch what was going to happen next. When Zhu turned back around with no small amount of awkwardness, the letter had vanished from the box. For a second he panicked, but quickly calmed down... Hopefully it was retrieved by the right person. But if so... Whoever it was incredibly stealthy, able to take it from the box without him even noticing or hearing anything. Zhu was told to wait a day for a reply, and if none was given, he would return to the Palace and await further instruction...

Turning to his left and seeing a Wolf pull a knife on a Tiger across the street as Zhu moved to take a seat at one of the outside seating areas of the tavern, he hoped the reply would come soon as he made himself as small as possible to hopefully not be bothered...

Hunter closed the door to his room, the scroll in hand, or paw or whatever was beneath the black handwraps he was currently wearing. The scroll was fancy, the kind he only got from contracts personally asked of him by the wealthier individuals of China. And when people wanted his services in particular, they tended to pay very handsomely... But this scroll was quite a bit fancier than the usual. He took the top off of the scroll's cover and opened it up to read it as he sat at his desk, curious about who was contracting him this time and what the job would entail:

'Hunter,

I write to you in the hope that you can help us once again. Your grandfather desperately has need of your help, as his illness has recently begun anew. I know it has been a while since we last spoke to each other, but I hope I can once more count on you to find the medicine we need for your poorly grandfather. Remember, if you need a reminder of what type of medicine he requires, the Old Master of the Green Tranquillity will surely know of what you seek. Please do not hesitate to make your way there as soon as possible. I implore you to make haste my friend, and I hope to see you very soon.

Yours Hopefully,

Red Master.'

Reading over the letter, he was surprised by its appearance at his doorstep, figuratively speaking. It was from The Jade Palace, the Green Tranquillity, a reference to the colour of Jade and the Valley of Peace the Palace was in. The letter was from Master Shifu? Old Master was Master Oogway, and Red Master was Shifu, who had signed the letter himself. Why was Shifu writing to him now instead of Oogway, he wondered to himself? Medicine was referring to an artefact needing to be found, and each time the word 'once' was used indicated the number of artefacts, and that was twice, so two of them.

Not good.

Sighing, Hunter looked over to a Scroll held up on a wall. "Why did I even steal you in the first place?"