AN: Somehow, I doubt anyone seriously thought that Ruiling or Guiren would be inheriting the Jade Palace, but that was a fun will to read, wasn't it?
Kelev: That's what she'd like to know, too!
RenkonNairu: Wow, thank you! Actually I'm an art major with some interest in history and literature, maybe that helps me a little.
Chapter Nine: What's in a Name?
Well, Po reflected as he faced Master Viper in the training room, that was Master Shifu for you. The village was in a shambles, the Jade Palace itself was in distinct need of repair, and none of them had eaten breakfast yet, but come hades or high water they were each going to do their morning practice before anything else.
Even if said morning practice was practically taking place at midday.
Yes, that was definitely Master Shifu for you.
Viper laughed, feinting this way and that before twirling him up into the air and knocking him into the wall. A fine shower of debris rained down on the disoriented Panda as he quickly scrambled away from the damaged section of the structure.
Viper's long, flexible body and unpredictable movements meant that she was the master who had the easiest time deflecting or outright avoiding Po's dangerous panda-style of kung fu. Especially the calculated and careful way that the Dragon Warrior flailed, yelped, crashed into things and bounced off of his sparring partner. Which was all, he felt compelled to remind them every so often, completely and utterly planned.
Po himself was taking quite a beating from both the overzealous snake and the structure of the training hall, itself.
"Geez Viper! Take it easy! We don't want to make the damage worse!" Viper giggled, dodging around the sweeping kick that he sent her way to leap up on his head and wrap around his face, effectively blinding him. "You're the one who crashed into it!"
Po tugged at her coils, managing to sputter out "Because you smacked me!" before he overbalanced and fell over. Viper chuckled, and slid easily off of him. "If you'd dodged, it wouldn't have mattered! Anyway, why are you being so formal? You know you can just call me Lian." She pointed to the small lotus flowers adoring her head with her tail while giving the panda a meaningful mock-glare.
"Come on Po, do you know how long it's been since any of us got to use our real names?"
Crane, or rather An, alighted next to the panda, reaching out a wing to help the bear to his feet. "Guys, just remember.. NOT in front of Master Shifu." Viper nodded, rolling her eyes at the reminder. The panda shot a mystified look in Crane's direction, while attempting to still keep an eye on his partner. Crane decided to have a little mercy on the curious Po before Lian grew bored and tried a new sneak attack.
"Master Shifu was always most insistant that the names of his students be left at the gate." The tall bird stooped down, and gave the two others his best Shifu impersonation. "From this day forth, you have ceased to be An. You are now just Crane. When you have mastered kung fu, you will be Master Crane. No other names will you answer to."
An grinned and bowed as the other Masters applauded lightly. "But then along came Po!" he concluded with a laugh. Po flicked some dust from his thick fur as he pondered this. "I don't get it, why would Shifu take away your names?"
Tigress vaulted down from the ceiling, where she'd been awaiting Crane's return to their sparring match. "I imagine it's because he didn't want to get too attached to us. Like he did with..." Tigress' voice trailed off looking pensive for a moment, but shook it off with an unsettling abruptness.
"Perhaps," she continued, "he would have found it easier to have accepted that 'Leopard' betrayed him, rather than Tai Lung."
Lian straightened, eyeing the panda cautiously. She'd discovered he was no stranger to the art of the sneak attack, either.
"Names have magic, Po. Powerful magic. They can be descriptors, invokers, and even holders of destiny. Master Shifu named the child he found 'Great Dragon', because he saw great power in him and knew that Oogway had foretold that he would train the Dragon Warrior someday... and you saw what happened when that didn't come to pass."
"Being suddenly denied the destiny he was supposed to have been given drove Tai Lung mad." The snake shook her head sadly, her green eyes full of actual pity for the enormous snow leopard who'd nearly killed them all.
"Without that destiny, he felt his name was meaningless. And if your name is meaningless, how hard could it be to conclude that your life is, as well?"
Po frowned. "How do you know all this, Vi- I mean, Lian?" The snake glanced up and gave the panda a soft laugh that held absolutely no humor. "He mentioned, when he sent An back with the rest of us, that he was coming to reclaim his name."
She looped a few coils to give the impression of shrugged shoulders. "Going from that, it wasn't too hard to figure out."
The Furious Five collectively lowered their heads in both remembrance and not a little shame of the beating they'd taken from the snow leopard. The memory of the massive cat's victory, which he'd dubbed 'all too easy' was not something that they were recovering from well. The five were legendary warriors, and not just in the minds of young children and hopeless fanboys. As a team they had never been defeated in battle. Ever.
Until now, that is.
Serious-minded Tigress seemed to take it as an especially personal affront to have been reduced to a helpless example of the enormous cat's power. Almost as though she'd have rather been killed in battle than suffer the humilation of being helpless as a newborn cub and sent back to her master to shame his training of her as well.
She'd thrown herself into training at every opportunity that presented itself as if it were her last chance to prove something. Perhaps to herself, or maybe it was to the rest of them; as their leader.
The panda looked around at his solumn comrades, trying to think of a way to cleanse the depressing atmosphere that had settled over them all at the mention of Shifu's former student. His green eyes fell on a certain female teammate, and he grinned suddenly. "Speaking of names, you still haven't told me YOUR name yet, Tigress!"
The big cat leapt suddenly through the air, landing on the panda's shoulders and sending him rolling back through the large double doors that guarded the training hall. The panda groaned dizzily, too disoriented to protest when about three of Tigress leaned over him.
"Because YOU haven't managed to beat me in a match yet. Defeat me, and you'll find out my proper name." All three of her flashed Po a toothy grin before vanishing from his line of sight.
"I gotta learn to stop provoking her," Po grumbled, staggering back into an upright position.
"Indeed."
Po yelped as he suddenly discerned Master Shifu glowering at him. The Furious Five had all snapped to attention, ready for whatever mission he had prepared for them. The Dragon Warrior had the distinct feeling that he'd been set up. The panda shot an annoyed glare at Tigress, who merely smirked in response.
"Very well, my students.." Shifu sighed, apparently resigning himself anew to the fact that Po was just plain impossible to corral in the manner to which a kung fu master was accustomed. "Let us all clean up a bit and have our meal, then we shall begin..." he gestured sorrowfully at the Jade Palace and its' battered grounds "..sorting all this out."
The six masters each bowed to him, murmuring assenting "Yes, Master Shifu" in chorus before heading back to the bunkhouse. The midday calm was shattered as soon as they were out of the red panda's sight by the sound of Monkey shouting "PO GETS A BATH FIRST!" and cackling as a tremendous crashing sound, much like a large fat bear charging after a much smaller and agile animal broke out.
"That's not funny, Chen!" Po roared, chasing the other master all the way back down the trail, through most of the obstacle course in the training room, around the still-stationary Shifu twice, and then back up the trail they'd come from.
Shifu sighed, and shook his head. "Sometimes Oogway, my master... I question your ways."
--
"Do you know why you failed?" An old voice, one that carried both wisdom and whimsy, echoed in the mists. The owner looked peacefully curious as he regarded his guest. He would like to know, but he could be content in not knowing. Either option was just as acceptable.
"Because you and your insane pupils stood in my way." The response was a low, almost-feral growl. A sound like distant thunder echoing off of the high peaks that bordered the Valley of Peace and signalled the coming of the spring rains.
"I would have annihilated them," the new voice snarled anew, "down to the last splinter, the last speck. They would all have been destroyed."
"How fortunate then, Tai Lung, that you did not succeed. I am rather fond of those people, and that Valley. I would think you would hold some fond memories of both, as well."
"You would THINK about me? Old man, you have NEVER thought about me! You have never even begun to conceive of considering even for a moment, of anything about me!"
"On the contrary, young warrior.. I have thought about you a great deal. Ever since Shifu brought you inside the gates and rushed to show you off to anyone who'd stand still long enough to look. Ever since he gave you that fateful name. Ever since you learned to stand, to kick, to fight... I have thought about you."
"Then WHY-!?"
"It is because I thought about you. That is exactly the reason why. From the beginning, there was always a darkness that played in your eyes, Tai Lung. Barely perceptible at first, but in time it grew. And given an outlet to latch onto, a dangerous desire to be lusted after, it consumed you."
A few peach blossom petals fluttered past Tai Lung's face, and he irritably swatted them out of his whiskers.
"You believe you are being punished," Master Oogway continued, blithely uncaring about the leopard's annoyance or the flowers. "but Shifu is the one who has truly suffered for your fate." The ancient terrapin's eyes flicked open fully, silencing the objection that was ready to leap from Tai Lung's throat.
"He sorrows for you. The love and responsibility he had for you will not let him do otherwise. He still holds on to that illusion of control. 'If only I had tried harder', he thinks, 'I could have been more patient or more discerning, and my student could have been spared the folly of my hubris.' And he nearly let it devour his heart as greed devoured yours."
Oogway's half-lidded eyes regarded the distance with a saddened gaze. "Greed is a dangerous thing. It crawls up inside the spirit and builds a prickly nest in the heart. It whispers half-truths and lies, and it uses until it destroys us. It is much the same with pride. Your greed and Shifu's pride. You are both simultaneously completely at fault and solely innocent." He gave a soft, whispy sigh and turned back to the apprentice master who glowered and lashed his tail.
"You could have turned away from the path you chose at any time, had you the strength of will or the character of mind to do so. An overly-enthusiastic parent does not make a problem child. A problem child exploits the opportunities and leeway given by an overly-enthusiastic parent." A faint smile touched the great master's face as he regarded his audience.
"You don't believe it? Then tell me, Tai Lung, why is it that you wished to be the Dragon Warrior? Is it purely to safeguard the Valley of Peace, or because you wanted the power and fame? Leave Shifu out of the question in your mind and answer honestly."
The snow leopard's thick brow furrowed in rebellious thought. Clearly he knew the answer that was expected of him... and knew it to be true. He simply could not accept that the two were mutally-exclusive concepts, let alone acknowledge that he could have been wrong.
His silence didn't matter. Oogway could see the answer as plainly on the cat's face as if it had been drawn on with a calligraphy brush.
"Had you wanted it for the right reasons, you would not have turned so fully. If you had wanted to protect the valley, you would not have raised your hand to it's people. Your anger and jealousy cripple you. They blind you. What you see as strength is in fact an enormous liability and weakness."
The leopard's face snapped upwards with a barely-contained defiant roar. Outrage poured from every single hair on the muscular cat's body, filling the atmosphere with electric tension.
"You see?" Oogway sighed with a nod at the display. "Accepting constructive criticism has never been something you've taken well to. True strength comes from acknowledging your flaws, and learning how to compensate for them. To do otherwise.. invites self-destruction. Even the weakest twig can help build a strong dam if it's used properly, but if you do not take care, the entire thing can wash away."
A mischievous grin played at the edges of the tortoise's mouth as the large cat's shoulders slumped a little. "Now then... if you're quite done with your tantrum, perhaps you'd like to know just exactly where you are?"
Tai Lung's ears braced back against his skull. This was something that he had dreaded finding out. "Am I dead..?"
Oogway did laugh then, gently. "No no no... not dead. Hold out your hand, young one." Confused and resentful, but still curious, Tai Lung did as he was asked, reaching a hand out. Oogway responded in kind, and the leopard yelped in shock when the others hand went fully through his own. For the first time, he noticed that the flower petals the swirled past them continued straight on through the old man.
Eyes wide with more than a little fear, he faced the spectral form of Oogway. The latter grinned patiently at him. "You're simply a bit... misplaced."
