Hello there! Now some of my readers from my other fic, may be reading this so if they are then that's awesome! :D Although, you may be wondering why am I back off hiatus so early? Well actually, I still have one last exam to do on Monday, so I should technically still be studying! :P However, I wanted to celebrate finishing off most of my exams, and seeing as I've had this new fic ready to go, I thought what better way to celebrate with you guys, then by launching off a new fic! So here it is!
Now, for anyone who just came here to read a new KFP fic. All I can say is that I hope you enjoy what I have to give you. I've been a long time reader on this site, and one of the first places I started reading was in KFP. It's only been fairly recently, since I got enough courage to actually publish anything I've ever written on to this site. I've also been wanting to write an action led fic for a while now. So we'll see whether I'm good at it or not! Plus, I've had this idea in my head for quite a long time, so I thought it was time to set it loose onto all you readers! :)
So without further ado! I introduce to you the first chapter of my first KFP Fic: A Grand Master's Legacy.
Two years after the battle of epic proportions between the rogue regal, Lord Shen and the Dragon Warrior, Po. Life in the Valley of Peace had become...well...peaceful. And, with only the occasional call out to stop a group of bandits or to liberate a small village from the clutches of some tyrannical villain, life for the Kung Fu Masters had just simply become training to keep in shape.
"Woah!" shouted Po as his face met the ground of the solid Palace courtyard...again.
"Are you alright to continue Po?" asked Tigress, her face not in the least bit concerned. Over the time, Po had been with them he had proven on many an occasion that he had limitless determination. No matter how many times he fell flat on his face, he would get back up to try again.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's try that again!", Po said as he got back on his feet and turned to face Tigress again.
All six of the young masters were sparring with each other in the Palace courtyard. Crane being paired with Viper, Monkey with Mantis and last, but certainly not least, Tigress with Po. Master Shifu looking at a distance to see the progress of his students. Whilst all the other masters seem to be sparring with one another no problem, Po had to pick himself off the floor every few minutes. It really was a wonder to him as well as the other masters how he ever defeated Tai Lung, never mind Lord Shen!
Just then, Tigress was sent smashing into the concrete wall leaving a big crack which left Shifu raising an eyebrow, before, producing a small chuckle. Whenever any of the masters began to doubt Po's abilities, he would always do something like that, to remind them that he was the Dragon Warrior for a reason.
"Oh my god! Tigress, are you okay?" Po shouted as he ran towards the fallen feline who was picking herself off the floor.
"Yeah I'm okay," she shrugged off the massive blow as if it were nothing, "That's the first time you've actually landed a hit on me today!"
At that point, Zeng the Palace messenger, had flown towards them carrying a scroll. Landing in front of Shifu, before, bowing to in respect to him.
"Master Shifu! I bring an urgent message from the Kung Fu Council! gasped out Zeng who was clearly tired from his long flight. He proceeded to hand the scroll over to the red panda.
At this Shifu stared at the closed scroll. A message from the Council, was always a serious matter. After, opening the scroll and reading through it his eyes widened. This was very serious.
"All of you come quickly! You will all need to hear this!" he called out to the Five and Po who immediately ran to their Master. Once all of the Masters were gathered Shifu handed the scroll to Po who presumed to read the scroll out loud:
To Master Shifu,
We of the Council have sent this message to discuss about the matter of the title of "Grand Master" that the passing away of Grand Master Oogway has left behind, with no one to take up the title. As you already know, the title of "Grand Master" is given to the Kung Fu Master who is acknowledged as the best of all the Masters in China. With Oogway being the 'creator' of Kung Fu it was generally accepted by everyone that he was worthy of the title. But, now with his passing away a successor must be chosen to take the title.
The reason for why, this issue hasn't been addressed until now is because, we saw that as you were Grand Master Oogway's student. We believed you to be the next rightful successor to the title. However, we have recently received many voices of disapproval at this decision, from the majority of the heads of the top twelve Fung Fu Clans in all of China: the Zodiac Twelve. With such, highly important representatives of the Kung Fu establishment wanting to attain the title, we of the Council have thought incredibly hard over the past few months on how to determine a worthy holder of the title.
The way the council has decided this is by hosting a 'Battle of the Masters' tournament. This will be a martial arts tournament regulated by all of the members of the Kung Fu Council. With your permission, we hope to host this prestigious event in the Valley of Peace, next to The Pool of Sacred Tears. I'm sure you'll agree, it is a splendid setting to host the greatest martial arts tournament China has ever seen, next to the birthplace of Kung Fu. So as the member of the Jade Palace that was closest to the former Grand Master, we of the council have decided to give you the advantage of choosing which Masters (including yourself) at the Jade Palace will be entered into the tournament. Simply by returning this scroll to the council with the names of the Masters that will be participating.
If you choose to accept entry to the tournament then further details will be sent to you. We plan on setting the tournament, a month from today. This is so that the remaining few spots in the tournament can be filled by qualification tournaments in which any martial artist in China can enter, with only the winners of each tournament being allowed to fight in the real tournament.
If however, you decide not to take part in this tournament then we will simply relocate the tournament to our second location of Gongmen City and the title of 'Grand Master' will be lost to your Valley.
We hope that you accept the conditions above and join us in the making of what is to be the greatest martial arts tournament China has ever seen.
Signed
Master Storming Ox, Head of the Kung Fu Council
As Po finished reading the letter out loud, there was mixed expressions amongst the students. Both Mantis and Monkey were both anxious about how badly they may get their butts handed to them by the other Masters. Tigress, Viper and Crane were taking the situation very seriously. They saw this tournament as a chance to see how they ranked amongst the strongest Kung Fu Masters in all of China. Whilst Po treated it like he would any other Kung Fu related thing...
"This is going to be AWESOME!" Po exclaimed "All the best kung fu fighters! Here in the Valley! Fighting it out! All those kung fu moves and styles together in one place! This is going to make kung fu history! I-"
"Calm yourself, Po!" shouted Shifu.
At that outburst he fell silent and waited for Master Shifu to say something.
"Now I have decided we will accept this invitation to participate in this tournament. But, we will have to train rigorously hard! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I will not have any of you waste it." Shifu said before turning towards Po and beginning to walk towards him, "Especially you Po! You'll have to wake up on time every morning for the next month. You'll need to cut down on the food you eat, and you'll have to work twice, no three times as hard as the other Masters! If we're to have you at a suitable enough standard to participate in a tournament as prestigious as this...We'll also need to actually teach you about tournament etiquette, as the Zodiac Twelve are all very noble clans, and I expect you to be the prefect representative of the Valley! Is that understood?" he finished. By this point Shifu had grabbed hold of Po and brought him to the ground and was now looking at Po eye to eye with a stare that was filled with the intent to kill should he not listen to any of Shifu's words.
"Y-yes Master!" stammered Po, who at that point feared for his life.
"Excellent!" Shifu said as he let go of the Panda, "You all have the rest of the day off, because tomorrow is when the real training begins!" he finished with a grim chuckle, as he proceeded to walk away, back into the palace as he called out, "Zeng, I will give the scroll to you to send tomorrow. I can see that you are tired from your long journey. So I'll let you have the rest of the day to rest up."
"Thank you, Master Shifu!" said the forever grateful, yet tired Zeng as he slumped onto the ground in exhaustion.
When Shifu left, all of the Masters went off to enjoy the most of the short break from training they would have, as they knew that tomorrow would be intense to say the least. For the rest of the day, Po couldn't help but have a huge smile on his face. He visited his father at his noodle shop and eventually wound up assisting the goose, at lunchtime service. However, Po couldn't care less that his day off was being spent working at his Dad's restaurant. The fact that he was going to be participating in the country's biggest martial arts tournament ever made, brought his spirits up immensely.
Even when a storm began to brew in the normally clear skies of the Valley of Peace. He walked up the Palace steps slowly with a wide grin, whilst everyone else, ran quickly indoors to get out of the heavy rain that fell mercilessly. He even smiled when he came into the Palace soaking wet and suffered through Master Shifu's lecture on drying yourself off at the front door, before coming in. And even when Master Shifu, had made him clean the Sacred Hall of Warriors in which he had left wet footprints all over the floor. Despite, all of this he still had a smile on his face, and did as he was told, surprisingly with no fuss.
After, cooking and serving out dinner to Shifu and the Furious Five, as well as eating his own. He went straight to his room, to get a good night's rest. As he lay on his bamboo bed, he looked outside to see flashes of lightning and the heavy downpour of rain continuing to hammer his window pane with such ferocity, that Po wondered whether the window would end up breaking during the night. However, he quickly pushed that thought aside.
'Rain or no rain! There's no way today couldn't have been any more awesome! Man, I can't believe how far I've come in the past 5 years since becoming the Dragon Warrior! To be able to enter such an awesome tournament...it's a dream come true! I just hope I can live up to Master Shifu and the Five's expectations...'. These were Po's final thought before he fell into the deep, tranquil, darkness of unconsciousness.
Meanwhile, outside in the middle of the thunderstorm a cloaked figure wearing a rice hat, stood atop a hill overlooking the Valley as he looked towards the Jade Palace with his icy cold, blue eyes. As the dark sky produced a roar of thunder that echoed throughout the Valley, the harsh gales of wind screamed in agony and the heavy rain continued to fall from the heavens. Lightning strikes from behind the figure as he smiles and says just two words: "I'm home."
A very short start I know! But, please bare with me! I will begin the hopefully *fingers crossed* awesome fighting scenes with the next chapter! So I hope you'll stick around for it! Also, please do tell me whether my first attempt at a KFP fic, is any good or not? I greatly appreciate constructive criticism! So please do leave a review for me! Pretty please! :)
All I have left to say again is, I hope you at least somewhat enjoyed the chapter, and if you did, then will hopefully, enjoy the rest of this fic!
So until the next chapter, BlackSpire out!