I have a new KFP story! And I don't think I need to say that this isn't in any way related to 'Tales of China'. This one is completely on it's own. It's also gonna be slightly longer than my other short stories. This one takes place solely in the 'Legends of Awesomeness' universe. It deals mostly with the events of 'Owl Be Back' and 'A Stitch in Time', along with a more compassionate-while still somewhat childish-Po, and a genuinely confused Fenghuang.
Enough manipulations of time tends to bring up a few realizations. And Po has one right here that causes him to make a decision that might create a sea of consequences, but not severe enough to make him sway from following the decision made from his heart. And that's what confuses our Owl even further.
This is starts right around the end of 'A Stitch In Time' and continues on it's own from there. If this gets enough attention, I might update it more often. It will have multiple chapters, yet not anywhere near as long as Tales of China. But it will still be long if enough are interested in it.
Alright, let's begin!
They were locked in a duel. A duel to the death.
They were currently trapped in a desolate area somewhat outside of time. This resulted from his current rival and competitor for the fruit of a mystical tree that serves to govern over time. The fruit of the Shuyong Tree. They both wanted the fruit for different reasons.
One wants the fruit for her own nefarious purposes.
The other simply wants his friends back. One has noble intentions, while the other wants to abuse the power to her own ends. One is currently the Dragon Warrior, while the other is a former member of the previous Furious Five. One is considered a growing hero. While the other is a villain who's fallen very far from heroism. Both of them are fighting for control over the timeline.
The panda known as Po, is currently doing battle against the Kung Fu Master known as Fenghuang. Both of them are widely acknowledged as prodigies, while the latter is obviously older and more experienced. And experience has allowed her to overcome the panda countless times, while creativity and unpredictability allowed him to overcome her in turn. She was obviously one of his most powerful and threatening foes yet. And she was also one of the closest to him.
He thought about it for a bit as they clashed around the Shuyong Tree. The very first time he met, he thought he would eventually turn evil. He in turn attempted to exile himself to the Northern Mountains like she did. Though when he made a crucial mistake and almost fell to his death, she was the one that saved him. She very well could have just left him to die, as she didn't know him and didn't have to care for him. But she did anyway.
You must be Fenghuang!
Yes, and you must be three-hundred pouenough
No...290, tops.
Saving him while not knowing who he is and how he could help her was not something he expected from someone who's fallen from grace. Fenghuang didn't have any obligation to save his life, but did so anyway. She then tried to turn him over to her side, the side of evil. While that certainly does sound unpleasant, there was a certain, hidden emotion under those desires involving ruling over the weak. A feeling of betrayal...and loneliness.
Ha, finally! Without Oogway, I can defeat Shifu and assume my rightful place as ruler of the Jade Palace. The strong must rule the weak, they will fall.
Wow, that is like classic evil ranting...Am I gonna be doing that?
Yes. Yes, yes, yes you will. Evil will tempt you with her power and you will gladly accept. Come with me now Po. We will return to the Jade Palace and annihilate everyone that you once loved.
No, no! That's why I left, so I wouldn't hurt them. I can't let you go!
The power went to her head. Now Po didn't want to mock Oogway because he still greatly respected the previous Grand Master. However, from that one exchange, Po could tell that a very important thing that he didn't teach the owl back in those days: Humility. It's not that his ego didn't get in the way sometimes, but Po always takes the better path in the end, no matter how bad things get...or how badly he messes things up. Fenghuang...she didn't have those experiences, and it only made her worse and worse over time. It eventually went to her head and she challenged the Grand Master herself...with obvious results. Still, she was unable to abandon that mindset.
The reason why she told Po not to care about his friends because they seemingly didn't care about his well-being, or that he was possibly turning evil. They never even lifted a finger to dissuade him. That was possibly what she went through. She was falling on the path of darkness...and no one made any real attempt to try and stop her. To try and help her. She doesn't allow herself to care about comrades anymore, since they discarded her so easily when she was deemed a lost cause.
You want to save THEM? The very same people who want you gone?! You think they CARE?!
Fenghuang must have felt genuinely betrayed by her comrades. Her instincts told her to continue seeking power and to grow stronger, and her mind knew that it was leading her down a dark road she's unable to pull herself out of by herself. And despite this growing darkness in her heart, no one tried to stop her. It was her own choice, but they could have easily pulled her out of it if they actually put in the effort to do so. None of them did. Not even her Master. So she sunk further into darkness, and no one tried to save her.
Just like his own friends didn't really try hard to stop him from falling down a dark path. Instead, they just let him go without much care. He knew they were just afraid. But still, it wasn't like he doesn't understand what Fenghuang meant by her disbelief about him still wanting to save his friends despite them seemingly abandoning him to darkness.
Because that's what true friends do. Even if it isn't always mutual. It looks like Fenghuang's comrades didn't consider her as a friend. Her faith in companions has been shattered with both silent and vocal betrayals. Thus she couldn't bring herself to believe in comrades anymore. She must have been so intent on becoming Po's teacher because they were so alike in that regard. For all intents and purposes, she might have genuinely intended on teaching him everything she knew. Though because his ties to his friends meant more to him, he used that hidden, unconscious weakness against her in order to capture her. There was genuine hurt an fury in her voice when she realized what happened, and the last connection to her possible redemption has been severed because he made a choice he felt was right.
I'll get you panda! I'll get you.
Sometimes being the good guy...isn't as fulfilling as he would have liked. Sometimes it came with decisions harder than others. Crushing someone's chance of redemption in order to do the right thing does not always leave a good taste in his mouth. Fenghuang had a chance to turn over a new leaf, and he didn't do enough to help her reach that possibility. And now that he's seriously thinking about it...he felt terrible for allowing a majestic bird such as herself fall so far, and so low into disgrace, and that he didn't try harder. She's fallen so far and grown so dark because he allowed that seemingly last chance to slip away from her grasp.
The guilt was eating away at him as he clashed with the dark owl. And it wasn't just on his own mind. Throughout the battle, the Shuyong Tree has been sending these images into both of their minds seemingly for no reason. Fenghuang was briefly confused, but ultimately ignored it. It feels like the tree was unconsciously revealing to Po what he was thinking and why he was thinking these things...which only made him feel worse and worse as their battle raged.
...And yet at the same time...he was slowly realizing what he needed to do, and why he needed to do it.
Po was soon faced with the Tree's Judgement, and has made his decision. He slowly raises his head as he regained focus. Fenghuang was trapped in place, while he himself wasn't. Po took a deep breath and proceeded with his decision.
"If I hadn't broken the rules and messed with time, they'd all still be alive. I gotta make that right."
"In that case...I accept."
"What?!"
"You wish to bend the rules of time to your will, do you not?"
"...Well...just a little bit..."
...Dang, this is going to be hard. Po mentally bemoaned.
"And what do you wish, Po?"
"I just want to let things happen the way they were supposed to happen."
"That...is a worthy response."
"Uh...can I change my answer?"
Yep. This is going to be REALLY hard. Po mentally facepalmed.
"You are wise, Po. A bit chatty, but wise. I won't give you my fruit, but I will give you what you seek. The mother of all do-overs." As the mystic tree tells this to Po, Fenghuang was suddenly, forcefully thrown over a branch, and began falling into the abyss below.
"No! I'm allergic to oblivion!"
"WAIT!" Po suddenly shouted out. Fenghuang's fall was eventually stopped, much to her confusion. He could feel the tree mentally raising an eyebrow at Po's interference. He took a deep breath and continued with his momentum. There was no taking it back now. "Um...do you HAVE to send her to oblivion? I mean, sending someone to oblivion is pretty harsh, you know? Can't you just let her off with a bit of a warning? A slap on the wing? A bit of a temporal pardon? There's such a thing as those, right? Temporal pardon?"
"Po...you do realize that her actions almost caused a total collapse of the time stream, had it not been for my interference. And you expect me to give her a second chance and just absolve her of her punishment?" Po could hear the sheer amount of skepticism in it's voice. He could definitely understand why it was being skeptical. And had this been any other situation, he would have backed off right away. But right now...he couldn't allow himself to back down.
'That's a fair point. In fact, that's an excellent point. But, I just feel...you know...maybe you can let her off a bit lighter than oblivion? I mean, I did it first, so I should have been the first one to be sent to oblivion. Though not before saving my friends. If I can set myself straight through a massive mistake, why can't she?" Po rubbed his neck slightly. "Sure she's done a lot of evil things, I can't deny that truth. But...there was a time in which she used to be a hero to China alongside the previous Furious Five."
"I am well aware of this, as it is written in history. However, those times has passed. Her heart has grown dark and cold from all of those years of desiring rule over those weaker than her. She even tried to sway you down that same path. And after failing in that, she continues to try and kill you and your friends. In this instance, she might as well have succeeded. And yet despite this, you still choose to defend her?"
Po sheepishly raised a paw, his eyes shifting from side to side. "Well...that too, is a perfectly logical argument, and also perfectly understandable..."
Fenghuang began falling again, and she rapidly flapped her wings in vain. "AAAAAH! STILL ALLERGIC! STILL ALLERGIC!"
"STOP! PLEASE!" Po shouted desperately. Fenghuang once again stopped calling, and sighed in relief. Po also sighed softly, before becoming fully serious. Yet his voice turned to one of pleading as well. "Look...I know that Fenghuang has done some terrible things...and that might make her a somewhat terrible person...but...there's still a semblance of good in her. I see it...and I feel it."
"You believe so...?"
"I'm positive. The very first time we met, she saved me without knowing who I was or how I could be of use to her. She did it simply because she could...even though she was a bit rude about it. She can't be ALL bad if she saved me for no reason. Also, she made a very genuine effort to become closer to me, for me to become her student. She tried to sympathize with me due to the similar experiences we've had with our friends not helping us out during our supposed sink into darkness. I was lucky enough to snap myself out of it...luck Fenghuang didn't have." Po lowered his eyes. "Once our friends figured that we would turn evil, they pretty much lost a lot of faith in me keeping it together. They didn't even try to stop me from leaving. It...really...really hurt. But I put on a smile and looked past it. I'm not holding a grudge over it or anything. Still...my heart took quite a blow at that." Po sighed. "At the very least, my Dad didn't want me to leave. I could always count on him in some way or another."
Fenghuang narrowed her eyes at the panda, still unable to move any other part of her body. What game are you playing, panda...?
Po took another deep breath, and gazed at the tree strongly. "Don't you see? She steered herself down a dark path and none of her friends tried hard enough or even cared enough to try. They just let her fall on her own and condemned her for doing so. She didn't get enough of a chance for her to pull herself together, which turned her into the owl she is today. And...I admit that I didn't really help matters by turning on her the way I did when I lead her to believe I was on her side. I'd like to think that if she had just one precious person that still believed she could be a good person back then, someone that wanted her around...she wouldn't have fallen as low as she had today. Mr. Ping, my father, is that person to me."
"Hmm...I can see that you feel strongly about this. And...what if I still refused your request to spare her from her fate?"
Po paused for a moment. Then he raised his head. "Will our timeline be restored from all the damage we've done to it...?"
"That is what you desired, yes."
"In that case...just go ahead and restore it. I'll join Fenghuang in oblivion. I think having good company will do her a bit of good, even if it's outside of time. It'll be tough, but my Dad will understand why I'm doing this."
"WHAT!?" Fenghuang's eyes widened as she heard Po's request.
"...That is...a rather odd request, Po. Are you sure this is what you truly desire?"
"What is your game, Panda?! You're being more foolish than usual right now!" Fenghuang shouted at him furiously. "You can't possibly think that I'm worth spending eternity in oblivion with just so I wouldn't be alone! I'm supposed to be your enemy! I was trying to KILL you! Why are you making such a ridiculous sacrifice for me?!"
Po turned towards her. "It's like I said. I don't think being sent to oblivion is a very pretty way to go. So I want us to avoid that, if we can. I'd like to believe that we can."
"Still! Why are you so willing to make such a sacrifice for my sake! There's NO logic to what you're doing, whatsoever! So why are you so determined to do this for me?!"
Po lowered his eyes. "You used to be a hero...now you're lonely. None of your friends tried to help you out of the hole you were sinking into. You actually tried reaching out to me. It may have been laced with evil intentions, but you were truly trying to be friends with me. I should have tried harder to be sympathetic with you. I may have taken a better path, but I could have helped you onto it. I didn't feel bad about it before...but all of this messing with time allows me to think deeply about that. It's hard for me to say in better words...but I'm better connected to you than most other enemies I've fought, because of similar past experiences with one another."
Fenghuang snarled. "Seriously? You're sparing me out of pity? I really must have sunken low if I have to be spared by the likes of you."
"Call it pity if you want...but there's no way that leaving you in oblivion will leave a good taste in my mouth. I don't think you deserve something that terrible."
"I do NOT need your-"
"I can't let you give up on yourself." Those words stopped Fenghuang in her tracks. She just floated there, open-beaked, unable to fully comprehend what he was saying and what it meant. She tried to find to find deception in his words, but she found none. All she could find was genuine compassion and sadness for a fellow warrior who's fallen so far astray because no one stood up for her.
He was completely serious.
The Shuyong Tree reacted to Po's heart.
"...You show a deep amount of compassion for an enemy you share a week connection with. It's rather strange...but it is very admirable. So...I shall grant your request and not send her into oblivion...but with a very specific condition."
"...And...what condition is that...?"
"Three months. Nothing more. If you can truly prove that Fenghuang does indeed still hold a semblance of her once noble heart, then I shall renounce her sentence. I don't need to tell you the consequences for failing, do I?"
"No. I got a pretty good idea." Po nodded, his eyes representing his inner resolve to succeed in this trial. Fenghuang was still trying to put her mind together and figure out what just happened.
"Very well. I shall fulfill your request. But remember...Three Months ."
Before Fenghuang could announce her protest, she and Po were enveloped in a bright flash of light...
And they felt everything reset to a certain point.
(Restored Timeline)
Po opened his eyes after the bright flash of light. His vision cleared up and he realized that he was standing right where he would find the seeds. Not wasting any time, he quickly goes to retrieve them. The first thing he would do was quickly burn them so that Fenghuang doesn't blow her redemption quest before it began. Speaking of which...he turned to the doors of the Jade Palace, his eyes lowering halfway.
Hopefully she wouldn't attack the Jade Palace. That would be a definite step backward when it came to her newfound quest. After all, they only had three months. And time flies by.
...Okay, that pun was bad even for me...nah. It's still pretty funny.
(Northern Mountains)
Fenghuang opened her eyes and swiftly stood up, her feathers blades sharpened and ready to impale anything that moved. She lowered said wings when she realized she was by herself in her cave, and remembered recently escaping from prison. She felt relief for still being alive...then that relief turned into burning rage that made her slam her talon on the ground, creating a web of cracks.
"THAT FAT BEAR DARE CLAIMS TO HAVE THE GALL TO PITY ME?!" She shouted, her voice echoing off of the walls. "I didn't ask for him to save me! What makes him think that he can abuse my pride like that?! That's far worse than any blow he's landed on me during our confrontations! This is absolutely unacceptable! He must pay for this! I will make sure that I...I..." Fenghuang slowly calmed down and lowered her eyes, along with her wings.
At one point, she saved Po from falling to his death. This time, he pretty much did the same thing for her. Except he saved her from being erased from existence...which pretty much outweighs how she saved him by an extremely large degree. She was a rotten owl, she won't deny that. However...she can't simply quash a resolve such as that one, especially since he saved her life with that same resolve he fights her with. His compassion was foolish. It was moronic. It was...the only reason she's still alive, and not trapped outside of time for all eternity. While she definitely didn't like Po, she felt that she would dislike being trapped in oblivion even more. So in a way, whether she liked it or not...she held appreciation for his mercy. Mercy she wouldn't have shown him. Something he knew, yet he did so anyway. Just like she didn't even know who he was when they first met, and she saved him anyway.
She gently rubbed her wing as she stared out to the mountains, towards the direction of the Valley of Peace. Her eyes grew softer as she recounted the last thing he said to her before the timeline was restored.
I can't let you give up on yourself.
"...Why...why would you say such a thing...?" She whispered, her talons creating marks in the rock beneath her. "Everyone else has already...so why are you claiming yourself to be the exception...?"
She thought she had the panda completely figured out. This experience proved her wrong.
That concludes our first chapter of this story! Po's decision has been made and he isn't planning on backing out of it. Fenghuang has been spared, but only has three months to prove that she still has a heroic heart within her, or her sentence to oblivion will be absolute. Po is willing to help her, but will she accept that help? Will she condemn herself to a fate worse than death to spite Po?
How will various characters react to their changes in interaction? Both heroes...and villains in the distance?
As said, this won't be anywhere near as long as Tales of China, as it occurs solely in the universe of Legends of Awesomeness. Still, it'll be quite long. Many things can happen with this kind of decision. I have plenty to work with when it comes to just the Legends of Awesomeness universe. Po's compassion will cause problems for some during these three months. It's up to him to make sure that Fenghuang succeeds.
Until next time, fellow readers!