"... Is he waking up?"
"He fell a long way..."
"Po, settle down! We'll ask him questions first!"
Shadow could hear all the voices echoing around, and was hard to tell where it was coming from. It was cool, so Shadow could feel that he was inside. His eyes fluttered open; he was on a different floor, and he was still covered by his cloak, so it had yet to be revealed that he was a wolf. He groaned irritably; how could he have been so foolish to not throw that blasted weapon further? He got up on one knee, crossing his forepaws over his knee as he caught his breath; the Five, Shifu and Po could see that he had crudely-fashioned gloves with sharpened bone on the fingers, a primitive weapon for hunting and self-defense in the wild. Shadow wanted, among other things, to put his knowledge of elements and metals to use to make a better gauntlet, but for now, he figured that it would be appropriate to discard his gloves, so he acted accordingly.
"Are you all right?" Shadow heard above him. He took a deep breath; the wind had been knocked out of him when he had hit, and he had not properly taken a breath since then. He stood to his full height, which was a good half-foot taller than Tigress, whom he saw standing right in front of him. Tigress seemed relaxed, but behind her sharp eyes the wolf could see a highly-trained readiness for battle. Shadow smirked; "You must be Master Tigress; every bit as intense as my people said, based on what scouts here had seen," he mused, removing his hood. "Yes, I am," Tigress said, tensing more as the wolf revealed what he was. Crane, standing a few feet behind her, tensed himself as well, ready to fight. Up some temple stairs, Shadow could see Shifu and Po watching, the larger panda's eyes narrowing a bit.
Shadow noticed everyone's reaction when they saw what he was and sighed; "I'm assuming that you have bad experiences with the wolves on the other side of the wall, judging by your reactions. Let me guess, they were aiding that maniac, Shen?" he asked, knowing of this because Shen was the key factor in his tribe's annihilation. "That is correct, young wolf," Shifu said, hands behind his back, wondering how this wolf knew of Shen and the wolves that had served him. "Then you must be Master Shifu; my tribe's scouts spoke very highly of their meetings with you... that is, back when they were still alive," Shadow said darkly, flicking his tail at the thought of his tribe's demise.
"Your tribe has been annihilated?" Shifu asked, looking surprised. "Why should we believe that, wolf?" Po asked with obvious doubt in his voice. Shadow nodded, narrowing his eyes when the larger Panda subtly deemed his words false, but keeping his temper in check; "Arhwal, a Mongol warlord, struck a pact with Shen; he took over the Northern wolf tribe and traded them as laborers and soldiers in exchange for Shen's weapons. With those weapons, he blasted through the Great Wall and destroyed my tribe, which was the only thing keeping him from overtaking Northern China; I'm the last of my tribe," he growled softly, clenching his fists as he recalled the sight of his parents being blasted from the face of the Earth by one of Shen's cannons. "Yikes..." Crane muttered, his eyes widening; "I heard about that, even flew over the area... He's telling the truth."
"I trained in my tribe's art of bending the elements for fifteen years before realizing that it was no help against Arwhal's forces. That's why I came here; I wish to train and learn the true martial arts," Shadow said, bowing his head humbly. Shifu was silent for a while; "Are you only after revenge, young one?" he finally asked. Shadow looked at the ground silently for a moment; "At first, I was… but now I realize that as the last of my kind, I need to pass my tribe's skills down and work to preserve peace, protect China from anyone like Arwhal," he said. "And you really wish just to exchange your powers and skills with our own to try and heighten your own senses and mind?" Shifu queried in response. "Well, I know this is a longshot, but I've heard rumors of two of this group's backgrounds, and found that they are similar to my own; I was hoping that I could join the Furious Five as an apprentice," Shadow answered, bowing his head again.
Shifu, thinking of what would be best for his warriors and this young wolf, glanced around at all of them. He had trained them all expertly, had taught them all they needed to know. He looked at Po, his hardest student to train. The panda glanced back at him and gave a reluctant sort of nod. Shadow had not seen the nod while his head was bowed in respect, so he had no clue what to expect when he lifted his head again. "Raise your head, wolf." Shifu said softly. Shadow raised his head and looked up at the two pandas; Shifu was certainly good at hiding what he was going to say. Normally, Shadow could easily predict what others were going to say based on their tone of voice, but not so with Shifu. Shifu analyzed the wolf before him carefully; "What is your name?" he inquired. Shadow flicked his ears; "My name is Shadow, Master Shifu," he said, refraining from bowing his head unless Shifu told him to. Shifu inclined his head a bit; "An honor it is to have the last of the wolves among us. May you learn well here with us." Shadow bowed his head as well; "I may not be the last of the wolves unless every last one that was working for Shen was killed; however, I am indeed the last of the element-bending wolves," he muttered humbly.
"It is late, young one," Shifu said, looking out the huge double doors behind Shadow; "You will rest, and we will begin your training tomorrow; the others will lead you to your room." Shadow nodded and turned to face the Furious Five; he still could barely believe that he was here, and that he had been accepted, no less. Still, he hid his emotions well, as he had for many years. Shifu headed off towards his own chambers, the Furious Five and Po heading towards the wolf, ready to lead him.
"Well, I won't be needing this cloak anymore; I used it as a guard against the elements," Shadow explained, shrugging the heavy cloak off, revealing his clothes underneath. He wore black pants, no shoes, and a shirt similar to the one Tigress wore, except with a black background and purple lightning patterns. "Impressive attire," Crane said with a light chuckle; "Come, follow me." He started to lead the way, lightly ruffling his feathers. Shadow simply nodded and followed Crane, his long tail flowing behind him for four feet on the ground as the rest of the Furious Five and Po followed in his wake. Tigress took a glance at Shadow's tail, wondering how or why it was as long as it was; wolf tails were never this long. Shadow didn't notice that Tigress was watching him, but he probably wouldn't have cared either way; he was used to getting stares because of his tail. One thing that he desperately wanted to do was turn it into a formidable weapon.
Soon the group made it to the end of a hall. Crane turned and faced Shadow and nodded to a door on his right; "Here is your room." Shadow thanked Crane and the others and retreated to his room; instead of laying down to rest, he sat and meditated, not even bothering to close his door in case someone needed to talk to him at a moment's notice. The others went to their own rooms, following Shadow's example of pre-sleep meditation after the day.