The Art of Reunion
Chapter 4: Flashbacks
Disclaimer: I do not own Skunk Fu or any of its characters. They belong to Cartoon Saloon and CAKE Entertainment. However, the story line and any OC that appears in this story belong to me.
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Three days has passed ever since Cheetah and Leo came back to the valley, even though they were only staying here for the week everyone is glad that their back. Since Cheetah and Leo won't be staying there for a while, they started to tell them stories of their travels. They are also teaching them the new kung fu techniques they learned from their travels too.
Skunk was sitting on a rock watching Leo, Cheetah, Rabbit and Fox training together. Leo was teaching Rabbit a very powerful technique called the Brick Break; a move that can break through stone and turn it to rubble with one punch. While Cheetah was teaching Fox a new fan-fan technique called the Razor Wind; it's a move that allows the user to create a sickle-like wind attack that is able to cut a rock in half. Skunk laughed a bit when Rabbit tried to do the Brick Break move on the rock, he hurt his hand.
He turned to Fox and Cheetah, he was surprised that Fox almost got the move down, and Cheetah said something about Fox being a quick learner. He wanted to learn these moves, but they think he was too young for such powerful moves. They sound just like Panda, but he might as well watch them, hoping to know all the moves and try to get it himself.
Skunk could see why the valley animals were excited that these two came back to the valley, they were nice and very strong too. Everyone was glad that they came. But for some reason, Skunk noticed this a while back, ever since Leo and Cheetah came to the valley, Tiger has been acting strange lately. Just two days ago, he and Tiger were together, and Tiger was going on about his battle against Dragon a long time ago, just as Tiger was about to tell the 'exciting part', they see Leo and Rabbit from the distance. When Skunk called at them, he realized that Tiger was gone in the flash. And Tiger hasn't showed up for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Skunk was wondering what has gotten into Tiger, he thinks that others besides him were also worried for Tiger. He wanted to know why Tiger is acting like this, and how is this related to Cheetah and Leo? But first, he has to know what is Tiger's problem and thought he might be in his den.
Skunk jumped off the rock he was sitting on and excused himself to the others. When they said there goodbyes, Skunk ran to the direction where Tiger's den was.
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Skunk had finally arrived at Tiger's den. Skunk looked around to see that Tiger wasn't outside; he guessed that he must be inside his den. When Skunk went in, Tiger was indeed there. Tiger was cleaning up in his den, he was dusting the shelves where his most of his prized possessions were, but what caught his eye was a scroll hanging over his prized possessions. Skunk has been in Tiger's den in some occasions, but never saw that scroll there before, it looked old but it was new to Skunk.
The scroll had pictures from top to bottom, each containing 3 figures, they were a tiger, a cheetah, and a lion, each at different sizes. Skunk figured that the ones in the picture were Tiger, Leo, and Cheetah. The top picture looked like when they were cubs, they all were piled on top on each other with both the lion and tiger on the bottom with the cheetah on top sitting on them with a victorious grin.
The middle picture showed that the one were a little taller then before, and the lion this time had a mane but it looked like that they were still developing. This time the picture showed them in their teen years, Tiger and Leo were sitting side by side with each other and Cheetah's head was in the middle and her arms were around their shoulders, they all had contented faces.
The final picture this time showed them as adults, they were all standing together with their arms around each others shoulders, Tiger being in the middle of them and they look like they were laughing.
Skunk looked at the picture for a while till he heard voice from behind, "Skunk, what are you doing here," he looked behind his shoulder to see Tiger.
"Oh Tiger, I didn't see you there," Skunk said as he turn to face Tiger, "I thought I'd come to say hello."
"Really? Thank you, that is really thoughtful of you. But is there anything else?"
"Well… yeah, I wanted to ask you something and it's really important,"
"Alright," Tiger went to his shelf and grabbed a teapot with some tea leaves to make tea for them, "So what is it you want to talk about?"
"Well I just want to ask you about why you're acting strange over Leo and Cheetah?"
This being said Tiger nearly dropped the teapot and caught it before reaching an inch on ground, "Are you okay?" Skunk asked with a hint of concern.
"Y-y-yeah, I'm alright," Tiger said in a nervous and frightened tone, "Oh, and I just remembered, I had a… a… a thing I had to do- yeah, that's it." He said quickly as he placed down the teapot down and quickly made his way to the exit.
"Tiger wait!" Skunk got up and ran outside, but by the time he was out Tiger was no where to be seen, "Alright, now I'm curious. Why is Tiger acting strange and how is this related to Leo and Cheetah? And I'm going to find out what." Then Skunk looked around, and lowered his shoulders, "And I really got to stop talking to myself."
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The scene changes to where the elders held there tea ceremony at the crack of noon. They were almost ready to start, when Panda started to play the flute's tune. When he finished, the elders picked up their cups of tea, they were close to drink it before…
"Master Panda! Master Panda!"
Panda cringed when he heard Skunk's voice; he remembered that he told Skunk specifically to never, EVER disturb the elders when they are doing their tea ceremony, unless it is important or an emergency. The elders turned to see Skunk running towards them, when he finally stopped in front of them, looking out of breath, but he was able to shake it off.
"Skunk, what did I tell you about coming here while we're having our tea ceremony?"
"I know, I know. You told me to never disturb you while you are having your tea ceremony, unless it is important or an emergency, but it is really important." Skunk said in one breath.
The elders looked at each other before turning to Skunk, "Alright, what is it?"
"Well, it's about Tiger. You see, he has been acting strange lately. When I asked why, he started to freak out and ran away from me."
"You know, I noticed the same thing," Crane suddenly said, which got the elders and Skunk's attention, "When I was doing my regular flight patrols, I spotted Tiger keep going somewhere hiding from something."
"And he has been eating his meals by himself lately," Duck added.
"Hmm, this is strange indeed," Turtle began, "But, why is he acting this way?"
"It's just a hunch, but it all started several days ago when Leo and Cheetah came to the valley." Skunk said
The elders were silent when Skunk said this till Panda broke, "This is strange indeed,"
"You know something about this, master?"
"Not entirely, but we do know that Tiger was friends with them,"
"Really?"
"Yes, they were. Do you want to hear the story," Skunk nodded, "Alright, it all started 25 years ago, way before Dragon plotted revenge on the valley…"
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Flashback… (25 years ago)
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Panda was walking towards a path where the dojo was (It's the place where Duck was in the Art of Remembering). But he wasn't alone, walking by his side was a young tiger cub, but unlike other tigers that had orange fur with black stripes, this one had white fur but still has the black stripes. And the tiger cub had an impatient look on his face.
"Come on master, when you're going to teach me how to kick butt?"
Panda sighed deeply, "Young one, the correct term is kung fu, and it isn't all always about 'kicking butt'. Kung fu was created for self-defense and protecting others it is never to be used for evil."
"Yeah, I know."
"But to answer your question, we will begin once you meet the new students."
"New students?"
"Yes, you see young one, in order to keep the kung fu art alive, the first generation must pass their teachings to the next generation. And they do the same, it is just like cycle. But in order to do this, it is necessary to teach more then one student. And plus, you can make friends with the students."
The tiger cub lowered his head, "But what if they don't like me?"
"It takes time to make friends young one, you can't always be good friends with them unless you get to know them."
The cub lifted his head back up, "I'll try, master."
Panda chuckled, "I know you will. Ah, here we are."
Panda and the tiger cub had made it to the dojo, where other animals were waiting for them. Duck, Crane, and Turtle were there with two others. They were both cubs at ages around 8-10, one was a cheetah and the other was a lion.
"So glad you could make Panda," Duck said.
"I wouldn't miss this for anything," Panda looked over to the cubs, "So they're the new students?"
"Why yes, their parents drop them off here," Crane said and then leaned close to Panda's ear and whispered, "And I also heard that the snakes near the desert had a new baby."
"Well after this, tell them congratulations for their miracle," Panda turned his attention back to the cubs, "Now, what your names are?"
The cheetah cub approached first, "My name is Cheetah," she said with a bow, she looked over her shoulder to see that Leo just crossed his arms, barely budge, and then she elbowed him in the stomach.
"OOF!" the lion cub rubbed the spot where the young cheetah hit, he looked at her annoyed, but stopped when she gave him 'the look', he sighed and bowed to the elders, "My name is Leo, sir."
"Well, I just like to say welcome to the valley," Panda said to the two cubs, "And I would like you to meet someone, right now he is currently my apprentice and soon you will be students with him." Panda moved a little and pushed the white tiger gently in the back to face the young Leo and Cheetah.
The young tiger was still silent and haven't said any thing yet, still nervous of the two new arrivals. He felt like an idiot till…
"You have a nice coat of fur, I didn't know tigers had white fur," the young tiger looked up to see Cheetah commented about his fur.
"Yeah, I seen lots of tigers with only orange fur, but you're the first I've seen with white fur," Leo also commented.
"Y-yeah, I was born with it," the young tiger said.
"Wow, that's cool." Leo said.
"R-really?" the tiger looked surprised.
"Yeah, you know for a minute there, I thought someone dropped white paint on you," Leo joked, "No offence."
The young tiger laughed, "None taken. Besides I get that a lot." Tiger sudden felt more relaxed now, no longer nervous around the two cats. Then they started to talk about many things about their current knowledge of kung fu, on what styles they do and what moves they know. The conversation lasted about five minutes; this was when the lion and cheetah cubs forgot to ask… what was his name?
"Wait," Cheetah said to stop their conversation, "we forgot to ask you, what's your name?"
"Oh, my name is Tiger," he said with a smile.
"I'm glad you three are getting to know each other, but can we continue," Panda said and the three cats nodded, "Now Tiger, I know you've heard this before, but listen again. Now that you are my students, I will be teaching each of you the ways of kung fu. There will be times that I would leave you to other masters to teach you more ways of kung fu. But most importantly, each of you will learn together, work together, and fight together. Now, are you ready to learn?"
All three cubs bowed to Panda saying, "Yes, master."
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"… and from that day on, those three were inseparable." Panda finished telling the story, "And from time-to-time, they worked and fought together and became masters in 15 years."
"But, if they were really inseparable, why did Cheetah and Leo leave the valley," Skunk asked.
"Well, that's the thing, no one really knows," Crane said, "But all we do know is that, Leo and Cheetah left the valley the day after Tiger lost the battle against Dragon."
"So it happened after Tiger battled Dragon?"
"Yes, that's right," Duck said.
"Hmm…" Skunk was in deep thought, "I have a hunch, but I have to be sure, I'll go and find Leo and Cheetah and them about it."
"Alright, Skunk. And good luck," Panda said as Skunk ran to find Leo and Cheetah.
To be continued…
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I'm really sorry for the major late update, and there are two reasons, 1) I had major writer's block, nasty things, and 2) I have been really behind in my school work, and I believed that I am in the danger of failing. I was just lucky that it is the start of my winter break, and I pray to god that I would survive the major grounding I will get from my parents. But this story is still on, for the faithful readers/reviewers. And I just might continue on with the Skunk Fu! fanfics.
Happy Holidays to everyone!
