Legendary Warriors
By: Junior Gordon
Chapter 1: Meeting a Hero
As the bell for dismissal rung, I smiled and grabbed my bag before heading out from school. It was finally Friday so I could just relax at home and do what I do best, write stories and play video games. I figured my protégé would be waiting for me outside, and as expected I was right.
"Hey senpai, I was waiting for you!" He calls me that Japanese name because I'm his upperclassman in high school, that and I'm teaching him how to be a better writer. "So are we gonna go to your house?"
"You know it little buddy, time for some weekend fun." We're usually at my house when we hang out; I also help him practice writing while we're there. "We'll watch our favorite movie too."
"Kung fu Panda!"
We both shouted it out as we made our way to my house; we were both big kung fu panda fans, when I first started writing it was fan fiction that was my muse before doing my own stories. You'd see most of my stories were about the dragon warrior and my original characters. Once we got to my house, we went to my room and put on the first movie. "Alright, so did you figure out what your first story will be?"
"Well, I was thinking my first story would be of us." He said.
"Us?"
"Yeah, I was thinking maybe we could be in the first movie and well…" The guy was blushing. "I figured we could be heroes with Po too."
"Oh? Now that sounds like an awesome story." Being side by side with Po, now that would be a dream come true. "What're ya gonna call it?"
"Not sure but… huh?" That puzzled expression he made had me look at what he was surprised about; my TV screen was starting to lag. "Senpai, is something wrong with the movie?"
"Don't worry my TV always does this, but I put it on the video channel and it doesn't lag there." This was strange, the movie lagged until it finally turned black but suddenly shinned in a bright light. "What the hell!?"
"Senpai!"
The light just grew brighter as it enveloped us; as soon as it came it ended with total darkness.
Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend. He traveled the land in search of worthy foes. The warrior approached a large tavern towering in front of him. A gang of bandits harassing the rabbit staff are startled when the warrior enters abruptly, and stare silently as he passes them and sits at a table. As he eats, the gang surrounds him
"I see you like to chew. Maybe you should chew ON MY FIST!" The Gang Boss slamming his fist on the table.
The warrior said nothing for his mouth was full. Holding up his hand to tell them to wait, he swallowed and then he spoke.
"Enough talk. Let's fight! SHA-SHA-BOOEY!"
The warrior delivers a series of punches and kicks and the whole gang goes flying in various directions. He was so deadly in fact that his enemies would go blind from exposure to his pure awesomeness.
"My EYES!"
"HE'S TOO AWESOME!"
"And attractive!" A smitten bunny said.
"How can we repay you?" Asked another bunny.
"There is no charge for awesomeness… or attractiveness." One hundred assassins appear and surround the warrior. The entire bar swells, packed to the rafters with ninja.
"KABLOOEY!"
The roof explodes and the warrior with a cloud of ninjas erupts into the sky. Like a tornado, the warrior twists and kicks them away rapidly. It mattered not how many foes he faced. They were no match for his bodacity. Two groups of thousands of foes leap at the warrior while in the air, but with a single flashy move he sends them flying. The beaten warriors plummet like rain as the warrior treks back across the bridge. Never before had a panda been so feared… and so loved. Even the most heroic heroes in all of China, the Furious Five, bowed in respect of this great master.
"We should hang out." Monkey suggested.
"Agreed."
But hanging out would have to wait. 'Cause when you're facing the ten thousand demons of Demon Mountain. He sliced off the heads of the bandits' spears with a shiny green sword and leapt into battle with the Five. None could beat the warrior and the Five's combined awesomeness, but when a dozen foes caught him by surprise something even more awesome happened; with the fluid swing of a sword, the demons fell by a warrior just as awesome as the other legendary warrior. An oddly colored panda, with markings on his eyes he looked at the warrior with dark blue eyes and smiled.
"You should watch yourself; you don't want to lose your head." He said smiling.
"It's good you have my back then."
More demons surrounded them, the two smiled and stood back to back with the Five with swords in hand. There's only one thing that matters. And that's-"
"Po! Get up!" Monkey said in a familiar voice.
"You'll be late for work!"
"Whuh?"
The whole scene turned black and I started falling before I suddenly found myself back in my room. It had all my kung fu posters and souvenirs, I even had a wooden version of the Sword of Heroes. I wish I could go back to that dream but… duty calls.
"Ngh what… happened?"
The boy became conscious after the flash of light disappeared, but he found himself somewhere different than his room; it was a forest filled with trees, a small lake that reflected the sun in front of him. He sat up a little woozy, he fell to his knees moving closer to the lake and gasped as he saw his reflection. The boy looked to see a panda with blue and white fur and his white belly hung out. He saw a his furry blue chest, blue arms and legs, but his ears only had one colored blue on the left while the right ear was white. He had blue eyes covered by blue spots that had markings that curved pointing to his blue button nose. Standing back up he saw himself he noticed he was wearing a pair of pants with suspenders around his shoulders.
"No way I… I look just like my wonder panda." He said looking at his surroundings more. "Where the hell am I?"
Looking around more he noticed two things on the ground, he saw a pair of glasses with a rectangular frame and a black wooden sword. As picked them up he realized both were his. "I get that my glasses are here but why my sword, it was behind my door if I remember right."
Looking around again he noticed something far off, a large valley with a town, and a large hill in the middle with a big building on top. "A village… this might be a bad idea but I need to figure out where I am. Guess I'm going to pay it a visit."
The panda boy began to walk towards the village, though the feel of walking on his new animal limbs did feel strange he somehow learned how to grow accustomed to it quickly; luckily the town wasn't far, he was able to make it after a mile but he was shocked to see the villagers. Animals were everywhere, from pigs, to bunnies, and ducks as well, they were walking around on two feet wearing clothes and talking like regular humans. The boy couldn't believe what he was seeing, he tried to stay calm and walked through the village but he soon noticed that it was hard to keep a low profile; the villagers would stare as he passed by and whisper to others while he wasn't looking.
'Ok I guess it's one thing to see a blue panda like this… but seeing one with a wooden sword is even more suspicious.' He sighed. 'Talking animals… this is just insane. But their outfits look Chinese; all of the things here look Chinese really.'
The buildings had a design that made the roofs point out, signs were written I Chinese but the boy realized he could understand them. He realized that the village looked familiar to him, 'But from where, I know it's somewhere but I don't remember.'
"Po! Let's go! You're late for work!"
Hearing that voice, the boy turned to see what looked like a restaurant. The name 'Ping's Noodle Shop' written in Chinese, he could see a small goose wearing a hat of noodles talking to a panda while skillfully cutting vegetables.
"That's Mr. Ping then that means this is the Valley of Peace." He hid by the entrance of the noodle shop and peeked carefully. 'Oh my god this is really happening… I'm in kung fu panda.'
"Excuse me can you move?" A pig said pushing the boy into the restaurant.
"W-Wait a minute I-I uhh…" The panda boy stood frozen as everyone stared at him, it was at that moment that his eyes met with Po's.
'A panda just like me? And he's blue… just like my dream.' Po thought.
"Oh Po we have a tourist, this is great." Mr. Ping smiled. "Quick, get him a bowl of noodles and see if he likes it."
The boy felt his legs turn to jelly; he'd fall if it wasn't for the empty table he was next to. He sat down covering his face in embarrassment. 'Po actually saw me… everyone saw me! Oh man what do I do now; this is still the craziest thing ever being in a movie world.'
"Hey there, welcome to Ping's noodle shop." Uncovering his face, the boy saw that Po was standing right in front of him with a bowl of noodles. "You're a tourist right? Here have a bowl of our famous noodles on the house."
"R-Really?" He asked.
"Well there is a small fee of course." Of course, the boy remembered how Mr. Ping always tries to get money in any way possible. "Don't worry about it though; you can have it for free."
"Oh wow, thank you so much." The boy smiled and grabbed a pair of chopsticks; he slurped on the noodles and felt a glimpse of enlightenment. "Holy cow this tastes absolutely amazing!"
"Thanks, that is the secret ingredient soup after all." Po smiled. "Meeting another panda for the first time is just awesome; hey do you know if there's any other panda's anywhere?"
"Um, well that is to say…"
"Po, hurry and get back to work." Mr. Ping called.
"Sorry Dad, I'm coming!" Po waved goodbye as he got back to work.
That was a close one; I honestly don't know what I'd tell Po. After watching the second movie I know that Po's real father is alive along with a bunch of other pandas, but if I tell him wouldn't I mess with the whole movie; the best thing to do is just leave it alone, I can't mess with anything or it could change. Guess I'm a bystander… so much for getting to hang out with Po. "What?"
I looked back to see Po looking at a poster on the wall, it was to announce the dragon warrior at the Jade Palace. He got so excited that he told everyone else to go, he was about to go instead until his dad said, "Po, where are you going?"
"To the… Jade Palace?" Po replied inching slightly out the door.
"But you forgot your noodle cart." Ping pulled in a cart of food behind him.
"Selling noodles?" He asked. "But Dad, I was kinda thinking maybe I-"
"Yeah?" His father smiled.
"I was kinda thinking maybe I…"
"Uh-huh?"
I know Po wanted to say he wanted to see who the dragon warrior is, but the sight of his Dad was too much for him. I felt bad for him and I knew I had to say something… and I don't think it would matter if there was a little change in the movie. "Excuse me, Mr. Ping was it?"
"Hm?" The goose turned back to me.
"Sorry to interrupt you, I just noticed that your bean buns look as if they might go bad any day now." I said. "I think you should hurry and sell them while you still have the chance."
"Oh yes good idea, Po take the bean buns with you and sell as many as you can." He told.
"Yeah, sure Dad." Po answered.
"Well actually, if you don't mind I'd be happy to help." I included. "Your noodles are absolutely amazing Mr. Ping, for letting me eat a bowl please allow me to help sell food with your son."
"That's a great idea, thank you so much." Ping smiled widely. "Alright, I'll leave you too to handle the work. I'll see you there when I'm done here."
"Alright Dad." Po pulled the noodle cart and started to walk over to the Jade Palace with me right beside him. "Hey, thanks for helping me out."
"Huh, oh it's the least I could do for the food." I replied. "Besides you'll need all the help you can get, lots of hungry people around here I can tell."
"Thanks." I saw Po smile, and when he did I couldn't help feeling my face flush red. "So what's your name anyway, I never asked before."
"Oh sure, my name is… my name is…?" It's weird; I can't seem to remember my name. My memories are all there, I know my past, my family and friends… but not my name.
"Hey, you ok?" Po looked worried when I didn't reply; I had to tell him something.
"Won Pan… my name's Won Pan." Won Pan is short for wonder panda, it sounds Chinese enough and it still works. "You can call me Pan for short."
"Awesome, well you already know but my name is Po." He smiled and held his paw out for me. "I got a feeling you and I are gonna be great friends."
I smiled and shook his paw with my own. "Po, I think you're right about that."