The Hybrid

The Strength of the Tiger

Before Raven stood a taller lean, but clearly strong female Bengal tiger. She had yellow Chinese clothing (a Hanfu) on with a dark reddish vine branch design going up to her arms and chest while wearing black pants. "It's you! AH!" Ed exclaimed.

"Quickly, let's get him inside. OPEN THE GATE!"

"Are you sure the coast is clear?"

"NOW PANDA!" The tiger shouted. The large gate slowly opened as the tiger rushed Raven and Ed inside.

"I'm fine. It just hit me in the wing. AH!" Ed winced in pain.

"Don't worry, we'll make sure you're okay," Raven assured.

"I'm sorry, Rae, for getting in the way," Ed apologized.

"Just make sure that you're alive after this and I'll forgive you," Raven conditioned. She carried Ed inside, seeing a large amount of gazelle and rhino guards darting around and out to the gate to take care of any intruding hordes. The tiger pointed Raven towards a small shaft going up to the top of the fortress Raven ducked past the incoming guards and was about to go up a ladder that the tiger was pointing to when the feline pulled Raven back.

"Hang on." Suddenly a large big panda dropped right in front of her from above. "He tends not to look where he's going," The tiger grumbled.

"Whoops! Sorry," The male panda nervously apologized. Raven saw he was bare-chested and wore tattered pants, patched different kinds of fabrics. "Ed? Ed! What happened to him?"

"I was just shot by an arrow. I'll be GAH OW!" Ed shouted as the tiger quickly took out the arrow still lodged in his wing.

"Now you'll be fine," she commented. The panda sighed.

"That probably won't help," He said.

"Please, can you make sure he's fine? I don't want him getting a disease," Raven practically pleaded. The panda gave a very caring and reassuring smile as he gently took Ed from her arms, though he had to nearly wrestle him away from Raven.

"I promise," he smiled. Raven somehow knew she could trust those green eyes as Ed was taken into a small emergency hut made of sticks. It was weird to see such a structure around brick and mortar housing, but these people were at war. Raven paced around. The female tiger simply sat on the ground before the panda came back out again with Ed on his shoulder. Edgar had a badged left wing, but he seemed to be just as cheerful.

"You're okay?" Raven asked, obviously frightened.

"Well, I won't be of any help for a while, but I'll be fine," Ed smiled in a goofy fashion. Raven gave a relieved smile. "Sorry to worry you, Raven."

"It's okay. But if you ever do that again, I'll snap your neck so far back they'll think you're a new kind of owl," She said with surprising contrast of happy and creepily threatening coolness.

"Ye... yes ma'am," Ed timidly replied. The panda seemed a bit scared too. The tiger only smiled as she rested her hand on Raven's shoulder.

"She reminds me of myself," she said. Raven suddenly remembered something.

"Who are you two?" Raven asked.

"Oh, I'm so dumb. Raven, this is the Animalist of Strength. The one and only, Master Tigress," Ed presented, pointing to the female tiger. Tigress bowed with her hands in front of her. Raven, doing as the Romans do, did the same. "And this is her boyfriend, Po, the legendary Dragon Warrior, also another Animalist."

"Ed, who told you that?" Tigress asked sternly.

"Um... everyone?" Ed timidly said. Tigress glared at Po.

"Po, care to explain?"

"Um.. well... oh come on, Tigress. I'm finally in a relationship with you, YOU of all people! I couldn't just keep it to myself!" Po exclaimed. Tigress held her head, sighing.

"He means well, you know that," Raven said, bring Tigress's attention back to her.

"You seem to know him?"

"No, but I know someone like him," Raven smiled a bit. Tigress chuckled a bit.

"I can show you a whole village of him," Tigress joked.

"HEY!" Po exclaimed. The girls laughed, but Tigress slowly became serious.

"So you're the Hybrid, Raven, is it?" Raven, suddenly apparent of her 'dominant' aura, nodded slowly. "We definitely could use your help now more than ever." She said as they walked towards the inner circle of the fortress. "It's good that we met here. We were called here due to a lower amount of guards. The Mongols are pressing us on all sides."

"We've been able to keep them back, but ever since Khan got those glowy rocks, things have been rough. Some of those men you took out used to be working for us. Now they're against us because of Khan," Po sighed in dismay.

"If I can help-"

"Verloor already told me your situation. You're quite different from what he described you as," Tigress commented. Raven's eyebrow perked up.

"What did he say?"

"He said you were a very shy, quiet person and very reserved. Also, he said to not give you anything that looked like a cape for some reason," Tigress replied cluelessly. Raven grumbled as if she could hear Verloor through those words.

"Why not?" Po asked, "Capes are cool! All flowing in the wind and stuff. I had one when I was fighting-"

"Po, that's not important right now," Tigress interrupted firmly. "We have to train her."

"Why don't we just take her back home with us?" Po asked. Tigress sighed.

"Although the training equipment would be better suited, we don't have the luxury right now. The Mongols are going to be coming from the East and the North. We're going to have to train her on the run." Raven walked with them to the small wooden huts of the small village. Bunnies, pigs, ducks, and small gazelles littered the small cramped rock-paved roads. Tigress knocked on an open shelf counter of a vendor, dropped some shiny metal that Raven could only guess equated to money. A small pig gave her a plate of small soy cubes and noodles and gave it to Raven.

"Thank you," replied Raven. Po whispered something to the vendor that made the pig jump back.

"But... No one eats that much!" He exclaimed. Tigress knowingly smirked at the goofy chuckling panda as the big served him a very very large bag of dumplings.

"So," Po mumbled as he seemingly gulped down some of the dumplings, "What are we going to do?"

"Which Animalists have you been to?" Tigress asked Raven.

"Cheetah, hyena, lion, elephant, and falcon." Tigress thought to herself for a moment. She looked to the interior of the country, up to the mountains where the tall winter trees were.

"I think we're going to go camping," Tigress said out loud.

"Yay!" Po and Ed said excitedly.

"But you're going to have to change outfits. That European armor is not the best suited for this climate," Tigress pointed out as she walked over to a tailor. "Verloor told me your favorite color was blue."

"Really?! I like blue too, but I don't know if I also like red or orange or-"

"Po," Tigress sighed with a small smile.

"Hehe, sorry," Po apologized. For some reason, Raven's eyes lingered on Tigress for a moment. The sense of not only dominance but confidence seemed to radiate off of her. Tigress looked down at Raven. She was about four inches taller than her. The tiger smiled down at the purple-haired teen's wondering eyes.

"Don't worry, you'll be ready."

"I'm not really... thinking about the training, to be honest," Raven said. Tigress chuckled a bit.

"I know." She replied.

Continued...