Part Two

"That's what she meant by 'You'll regret this.'" Mei Ling groaned. "She'll send that beast every night unless we give her what she wants."

"So what do we do?" Crane asked. "She wants the best warrior here, and you and I are the only warriors left here."

"Ahem?" Shifu's eyebrow rose.

"I meant from this school." Crane said quickly.

"We could fight it." Mei Ling said. "Maybe even kill it if we have to."

"That might not be the best idea." Shifu intervened. "That caracal might send something worse. Besides, it's not going to be easy to beat this thing."

"Do we have any weapons?" Crane asked.

"We should, yeah." Mei Ling said. "Right now, though, I want to sleep." The boys agreed, and the three of them went off to bed.

The next morning, Mei Ling led the boys to the weapons room. "Even that beast doesn't stand a chance now." The mountain cat chose a spear for her weapon. Crane looked around before picking a sword and then rushing back to his bad to grab his shurikens and kunai. Shifu chose to have his dagger at his waist, a quiver of arrows on his back, and grabbed a bow.

"Are we ready?" Mei Ling asked. The boys nodded.

"Should we practice?" Crane suggested. "We'll have a while until sunset, and I haven't fought with a sword in a long time." The three of them agreed it'd be better to train a little, so they went to the courtyard to practice. Mei Ling and Crane sparred with their weapons, giving each other pointers. Shifu practiced his aim for a while before overlooking the other two's training.

"Stay alert!" he snapped. "Both of you! I can tell from fighting this thing once that it's not going to give you time to bounce back."

"We'll kill that thing before it can bounce back." Mei Ling growled. Crane suddenly stopped, and ended up having Mei Ling's staff whack him in the face.

"Ow!" he yelped. He rubbed his sore beak. "What do you mean, kill it?"

Mei Ling gave him a weird look. "Well, I was thinking of either drowning it in the river or stabbing it thru the heart."

"That seems a little…intense…." Crane said uncomfortably. "Don't you think?"

"Crane, this thing is trying to kill us." Mei Ling growled. "If we don't kill it first, there'll be nothing left of us or this school."

"Mei Ling, I always taught my students that you should never kill unless absolutely necessary." Shifu explained. "I've never had any my students kill anyone and I can't remember when I've killed someone."

"How noble." Mei Ling commented. "But this isn't a person, it's a monster. Either we kill it or it kills us."

"Mei Ling, I think you're getting a bit out of hand." Crane said. "What if we went to find this caracal and try talking to her?"

"Because we don't know what she wants with us." Mei Ling protested. "She might try and kill us and take the school for herself."

"Mei Ling, did it ever occur to you that if we did kill this beast, something worse would come and most likely kill us?" Shifu demanded.

Mei Ling huffed. "Are you two going to help me or not?"

"We will help you." Crane promised. "But why do we have to kill this thing?"

"I just answered that!" Mei Ling nearly shouted. "Whose side are you on?"

"The side that I know is right!" Crane snapped. "I have never killed anyone or anything in my life, and I don't plan on starting now."

"Crane, this thing is trying to take our academy, our home!" Mei Ling yelled. "That caracal woman will pay. Now are you with me or not?" Crane and Shifu only stared at the mountain cat.

"Mei Ling, you've changed." Crane muttered.

"Well, if you two won't help me, then I'll kill that thing myself." Mei Ling growled as she stormed off. "And if she sends more, I'll crush them." Mei Ling stalked off.

Shifu sighed. "That girl's been hurt."

"Well, she does feel like her home is being taken from her." Crane admitted. "Maybe someone should talk to her." There was a pause. Crane glanced at Shifu. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to talk to her?" Crane gestured towards the direction Mei Ling went.

"She's your friend." Shifu protested. "You've known her longer."

"But what if she yells at me?" Crane asked. "I'm not good with people who are angry at me. And to add insult to injury, she has claws; I'd prefer to have my feathers on my body."

"She's still your friend." Shifu insisted. "If she'll listen to anyone, it'll be you." Crane looked towards Mei Ling's room, sighed, and flew off. He found Mei Ling in her room, meditating on her bed. Crane carefully stepped inside.

"Can I help you?" Mei Ling snapped.

Crane stopped briefly before walking up beside his mountain cat friend. "You okay?"

"Of course not." Mei Ling growled. "Why can't you realize that the only way to beat this thing is to kill it?"

"It's not the only way." Crane protested. "What if we tried to find that caracal? We could talk to her and maybe-"

"Why'd you leave?" Mei Ling interrupted.

Crane stopped and stared. "What?"

"Why did you leave Lee Da?" Mei Ling repeated. "You were a great warrior. Has going to the Jade Palace made you weak?"

"I'm not weak." Crane snapped.

"You always find the good in everybody or everything unless it was Tai Lung or a bandit you've known for a while." Mei Ling told him. "You never think that maybe you're wrong until you make a wrong move." Mei Ling stared Crane in the eyes. "When will you realize that talking won't win your battles?"

"It has before." Crane said. "And I'm sure it will now. You just have to trust me."

"How can you ask me to trust you?" Mei Ling demanded. "Do you not see that everyone is gone except for me? I stayed to protect my home." Mei Ling turned and faced the wall. "Everyone else is a coward except for me."

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Crane demanded. "I'd be surprised if you did. After all, Shifu and I came here to help."

"If you won't help me kill this thing, then you should never have come." Mei Ling grumbled.

Crane sighed. "Mei Ling, I promise to do everything in my power to help you. But I can't do that if we keep fighting." Crane placed a comforting wing on his friend's shoulder. "Can we try and work together on this? Or at least stop fighting long enough to fight this beast?"

Mei Ling turned to Crane and smiled. "Deal." She took the avian's wing in her paw and they shook on it.

They jumped at Shifu's shout.

The two exchanged worried glances before sprinting to the window. They were shocked, and inwardly a little horrified, to see the caracal's beast back, swiping at Shifu who was running and shooting at the same time, trying to avoid the beast's claws and teeth.

"That's not possible." Mei Ling cried. "It only comes at sunset!"

"We have to help him!" Crane insisted. He flew out the window and Mei Ling followed, scaling the wall with her claws. The two of them reached the courtyard just as the beast swung its tail around and have it slam into Shifu. The old master went flying and slammed into Mei Ling, who had been running full speed toward the beast. The two went tumbling head over heels and hit a wall. The beast charged for the two, but Crane flew past the beast, swiping at its face. That instantly resulted in the beast going for the bird. The beast snapped at the avian master, only to miss every time. Shifu and Mei Ling untangled themselves from each other and rushed in to help him. Shifu reached for an arrow, but muttered a curse under his breath.

"Out of arrows." He informed.

"Then we'll take it down the old fashioned way." Mei Ling smirked. She drew her claws and stabbed them into the beast's legs. The beast snarled and snapped its jaws at the cat. Shifu shrugged and charged in, using his bow for a staff. The beast snarled and swung its paw around, slamming Mei Ling thru a wall. It whipped its tail into Crane, sending the avian crashing to the ground. Then, it turned to Shifu, its cat eyes narrowed. Shifu looked behind him and, seeing the doors to the academy to his back, got an idea. He ran towards the gates, the beast right behind him. Shifu just managed to touch the doors before everything went wrong.

The beast leaped towards the old master, crashing into him and resulting in the two of them breaking thru the doors and plunging into the river.

Mei Ling wasted no time. She ran straight past Crane and dived in after them. She couldn't see much because of all the bubbles, and soon had to resurface. She took a breath and dived down again, Crane watching worriedly from the broken doors of the school.

Underwater, Mei Ling searched desperately for Master Shifu. She saw him at the bottom of the river, unmoving. The mountain cat swam down to him and grabbed Shifu's paw, pushing off the bottom and bursting from the surface. Shifu came up after her, coughing up water and gasping. Mei Ling swam to the bank on the other side of the river, hoisting herself and Shifu up onto the ground.

"Thanks." Shifu said after he caught his breath.

"Don't mention it." Mei Ling huffed. "Ever." Shifu chuckled. Crane flew over to them, his face etched with worry.

"You guys alright?" he asked worriedly.

"We're fine." Shifu assured. He stared into the river. "I guess we got it."

"Yeah." Mei Ling breathed. "Guess we did." She seemed worried. "You think something else will come?"

"Maybe." Crane shrugged. "You never know; maybe-"

The beast suddenly burst from the surface of the water, roaring with rage.

"What does it take to beat this thing?" Mei Ling snarled.

"We'll think about it later!" Crane urged. "Run to the forest!" The three warriors ran off, the beast close behind. The group sprinted farther into the forest, darting past trees and hoping it would slow the creature down, but the trees ended up flattened by the beast's paws.

"Do we even have a plan?" Shifu demanded.

"We'll think of a plan when we lose this thing!" Mei Ling snapped.

"No." Crane intervened. "This ends now." He suddenly stopped and turned to face the beast, who skidded to a halt in front of the bird. Shifu and Mei Ling stopped some yards away, watching with shock.

"You want the best warrior?" Crane demanded. "Well, here I am. Whatever your master wants, I'll do it. But leave them alone!"

"Crane, what are you doing?" Mei Ling shouted. "Run! Fly! Get away from it!"

The beast stood before Crane, a contemplating look on its face. Mei Ling charge forward, but Shifu stopped her.

"Don't intervene." Shifu warned. "We don't know what'll happen." He stared at his student. "Crane, be careful."

"I will." Crane promised.

The beast seemed to smile. It slowly started to transform, getting smaller and smaller, its form changing. Its mutant body became that of a beautiful caracal's. Her eyes were like a deep green forest. She wore a green strapless dress and a green shawl over her shoulders. The caracal was barefoot. She had a warm smile.

"You are the one." The caracal said.

"What do you want with me?" Crane asked warily.

"I need a favor." The caracal said. She pulled out a necklace from a hidden pocket in her dress. There was nothing special about it; it was a gold square with writing all over it on a chain. "I've had this since I was a little girl." The caracal explained. "I can't read the symbols on it."

"So?" Crane shrugged.

The caracal held out the necklace. "Read them to me."

Crane's jaw dropped. "You mean to tell me that you threatened my academy and tried to kill me, my friend, and my master, all because you wanted this thing translated?"

The caracal chuckled. "It was also a test; to see who really was the best warrior at Lee Da Kung Fu Academy. You see, only a great warrior would be kind and brave enough to take such a risk." The caracal turned to Shifu and Mei Ling. "The girl would've done the same, but she was blinded by anger. Your master would've done it as well, but he was not from your school."

Crane huffed. "Some test." He took the caracal's necklace and looked closely at the symbols. "It says, 'Sēnlín Jūzhù zhě'."

"Forest dweller." Shifu translated. The caracal sighed. "What's so important about that necklace?"

"This necklace had my name on it." The caracal/ Sēnlín said. "I've been longing to know my name for so long."

"Why couldn't you go to your parents?" Mei Ling asked. She and Shifu walked up next to Crane.

"My parents died when I was eight." Sēnlín sighed. "I've been living in the forest all this time." Sēnlín took her necklace and put it on, smiling. "Thank you for helping me. You are all great warriors." Sēnlín bowed to the masters before disappearing in a puff of smoke that smelled like tree bark.

For a long moment, there was silence.

"Well….." Mei Ling finally piped up. "That was fun."

The three cast glances at each other before laughing.

STAR STAR STAR STAR STAR

A week passed since the incident, and Crane received another letter from Mei Ling. This time, she addressed it to Crane and Shifu.

Dear Crane and Shifu,

Everything is back to normal. Sēnlín is gone, most likely favoring other lands. The master and all the other students have returned, and life couldn't be better. I told them what happened, and the master seemed very ashamed, saying he had brought Sēnlín's wrath upon us.

Don't worry; I'm swaying him from these thoughts.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Mei Ling

P.S. You're not going to believe this, but I think I saw Sēnlín in her beast form a few days back. I think she was heading to the Jade Palace. Keep an eye out for her!

A/N: Well, that's it for this story. Don't worry, Sēnlín will be back. Sorry it was short. It was kind of a test story and I don't think I did too well. Now, I shall continue my Friend or Prey? story. Until then!