Let's see how Byakko and Santiago's actual first day of training in the Jade Palace goes.
Chapter 8: First Day of Training
As the next morning dwells, Byakko feels the sun in his eyes as he lets out a slight soft groan as he woke up and sat up from his mat, yawning softly and scratching his back and when he got up out of his bed, Santiago gets himself up and wipes the sand from his eyes and then looks at Byakko and he asked, "So what do you think's gonna happen today?"
Byakko stretched his entire body out and he replied, "Some training, I think."
Santiago got himself out of bed and went behind Byakko and as they both stepped out of their room, they saw Master Shifu standing in front of all of the barracks and they felt completely freaked out that he stood there and thought that no one was watching. The grandmaster looked up at both of them and he said, "Morning, boys."
"Morning." they both said, in unison.
Shifu looked at Byakko in the eyes and he asked, "How'd you sleep?"
Byakko lets out a half-sluggish sigh and then responds, "Fine, I guess. It's just the first time I've ever slept in something that isn't near a cave."
Santiago nodded his head as well and he said, "I feel the same way too. We're kinda used to sleeping in a cave or even outside in the rain."
Shifu could tell that this is the first time they've ever been slept on a mat before or anything that's near a roof over their heads and judging by their experiences with that evil white tiger over the years, it was like he can give them something that never had before; something to call them home. But he shook off the feeling for a bit as he was still waiting for the other masters to come out of their rooms. Just then, they saw Musaki walking towards the hallways and Shifu greeted him almost immediately.
"Morning, Musaki. Up a little early, aren't ya?" asked Shifu, while bowing to him.
Musaki bowed to him back and he replied, "Just doing my usual yoga routine. This time, I did it about 2 hours early."
That rose Shifu's eyebrows to see that Musaki had done some yoga only 2 hours today and he never could've thought of doing something like this and he said, "Impressive."
Musaki looks down and sees both Byakko and Santiago standing there and he said, "Morning, guys. How ya doing?"
"Fine, I guess." Byakko said, scratching the back of his head.
Musaki could obviously see in their eyes that this is a new place for them and it might take some time to really get used to this routine they set in and he asked, "All new to you, huh?"
Santiago chuckled slightly at that and he said, "Completely. We always thought that no one in this entire world would even consider caring for both of us."
"Well...we're different from those people. It'll take some getting used to if you can follow what we do everyday." Musaki replied.
"And how's that?" asked Byakko.
Shifu cleared his throat for that question and he said, "We wake at sunrise and sleep by sunset."
"Then, there's training, chores, more training, mealtimes and more chores. But mostly training." Musaki added.
That added as a shock for them because they neevr quite really knew what that would be like and Shifu was prepared to give them a few things for them to teach, especially with Byakko. Based on his powers, he's gonna have to give him an extra push to make sure he can keep them in control, just like he did with Ichi. Shifu went up to them and he said, "As long as you follow what we do, there will be no problems."
Just then, Shifu went back to his position and then told Musaki, "Take Byakko and Santiago to the training hall. We'll meet you there in a while."
Musaki nodded his head and then they followed him to the training hall while Shifu quietly awaits for the masters to come out of the room and almost immediately, the morning gong bell rings and all of the masters pop out of the room saying, "Good morning, master!"
A large thud came on the other side of the room and they could tell that it's from Po's room and then he popped out of the room saying, "Good morning, Shifu!"
Just then, Arizona, Ruiz, Kazuo and Shing got out of the room as well and all of them said, "Morning, Master Shifu!"
But for some reason, everything stayed quiet as they saw Po standing there totally naked and Po didn't know what was going on and Shifu asked, "Po, where are your pants?"
Po looked down and completely felt embarassed by coming out with no pants and he said, "It was hot last night, master. So I decided at least for one night to sleep in the nude."
Everyone else kinda didn't want to see a naked panda standing there in front of everyone and the reaction in the hall was one of awkwardness, disturbing and a little freaked out and Po knew that it would be awkward for them and Shifu said, "Put some pants on, panda."
Just then, Musaki went back to the hallway and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Po's bare butt cheeks and looked very mortified to see this happening. He turned his focus on Shifu and he said, "Forgot my headband, master."
As Musaki went in the room, Shifu cleared his throat and said, "Head outside of the training hall to meditate, please. Hopefully, this will be enough to erase your memory banks."
As everyone despersed, Musaki got out of the room and got his headband on his head and left the room immediately and as Po got back to his room, Shifu shuddered at the image of his head of seing Po naked and said, "And so will mine."
An hour later, everyone did some serious training and Byakko was a little nervous to actually see this happening and just then, Shifu went up to the young white tiger and asked, "Do you have any training skills?"
Byakko looks at Shifu and he replied, "I don't think I have any formal training in me. Plus, I'm kinda too afraid to show off my powers."
Shifu could tell from the look in his eyes and he reminded of himself when Ichi was in that position and he said, "Can you give me some examples of your skills?"
"I'll...I"ll try." Byakko replied, nervously.
Byakko made his way to the dummy and he took a deep breath and just punched it out and kept swinging and kicking it until Shifu said that's enough. Byakko went up to Shifu and the grandmaster told him, "Excellent work. Now let's see about those powers of yours."
Santiago went where he was in case something might go down there and Shifu brought out a candle in front of him and he said, "Light up this candle."
When Shifu sets it down on the ground, Byakko sat down on the ground, closed his eyes and focused on the candle and within 10 seconds, he lit it. When he opened his eyes, he could see the candle already being lit.
"Well done." Shifu said.
Byakko slowly looked at Shifu and he never got a compliment for his powers before and he blinked twice and said, "Thanks."
Just then, Byakko decided to just go all-out by passing through every type of the training equipment he could to his advantage. He did some backflips, turns, kicks, punches and spins all around there and when he got back to the other side, all of the other kung-fu masters were deeply impressed by his moves, including Po and Musaki. Both of their jaws were dropped to the floor when he showed off some of his moves and Po exclaimed, "That was freakin' awesome!"
Musaki chuckled at this and said, "I'll say! I think you've got yourself a passion for kung-fu."
As the number of compliments came in from the others, Byakko stood there in disbelief that these people would actually like those skills of his, but for him he felt really good about it and he bowed to all of them for it. Just then, they see Santiago going at it as well and he leaped up the seven swinging clubs of instany oblivion, hung on the seven-talon rings and stood in front of the field of fiery death and even before the flames popped up, he was immediately vanished from there, which surprised all of them and got past the gauntlet of wooden warriors and headed back to where the others were standing there.
Shifu looked up at Santiago and he said, "Pretty impressive. I think you and Byakko are gonna have a great fit in this palace. With your powers and your quick skills, I think you two will be unstoppable."
Byakko and Santiago could not believe what just happened in one day that they finally felt accepted after all these years of ultimate suffering by Benkei and they bowed to him for respect and Shifu looked at Byakko and said, "I have a question for those powers of yours; when you used that power on Benkei, what was that?"
"Like I said, when something or someone gets me mad or pissed off, I use my darkness power to let it all out when I lose every ounce of control. All of my powers come out of me based on my mood." Byakko replied.
"It's true." Santiago agreed.
"What you say was Lunarkinese, my darkness power." Byakko added.
"But what about when you lit Shifu's candle?" asked Arizona.
"I'm Pyrokinese as well. Sometimes when I get really focused or if I concentrate during my own independent training, fire comes out of me and I engulf myself in flames although not all the way, but when I really focus hard." Byakko replied.
All of them were really surprised to actually hear what Byakko said and realized that he's no ordinary tiger, but he's one with so much powers that's really hard for him to control and Musaki said, "Sounds like you know this from experience, huh?"
"I'm a daikojin. I still have to learn about myself and learn how to keep my powers under control and after today, I might need some help." Byakko said.
Santiago went on to say, "Byakko's like my brother and we've been through a lot and we're hoping that maybe this will be the start of something new for us."
"If you both apply yourselves for your training, I think you will most likely find peace within yourselves." Shifu added.
Byakko felt really happy to hear him say that and just then, Tigress noticed that his body was full of light and when she touched his shoulder, she got zapped and electrocuted by him and it was so powerful that it struck her down hard and landed on the ground with her fur looking all fuzzy and full of shockwaves through her.
Mantis looked up and looked at Byakko and asked, "What was that?"
Byakko chuckled nervously and said, "Sorry. I'm electrokinese too. Sometimes when I'm really happy or excited about something, my inner body is like a lightning rod and then it just strikes at anything."
"Yeah, I've been shocked by him numerous times because of that." Santiago added.
Byakko scoffs amusedly and just shook it off and as he looked at a very electrocuted Tigress, he said, "Sorry about that. I also have electric powers."
Musaki looked at her and he started snickering at her and said, "I think you made her look extra crispy."
As Tigress got herself up, she tried walking but with each step, she gets shocked in the process as well got zapped again. Byakko figured that this might be a challenge to be careful with his powers and to control them.
"With that, that's enough training for today. You're dismissed." Shifu said.
A little bit of humor never hurts. Next chapter, it'll have a turn for the angst.
