Super Long Chapter Update! 5K words so the biggest by far! (Biggest was chapter 9 at 3k words so woo!)
brwainer: He didn't do anything TOO extreme, just made it through the dummies faster and he got hit less. Plus it's explained in this chapter... for the most part.
Comrade: Well I try my best to keep her in check, although sometimes she does get away with a thing or two.
Plus something that hasn't happened in a long time and it's about time it happened again. Shifu hits Xin!
"Tigress!" Master Shifu shouted to get Tigress' attention during her training. She jumped over to him and bowed.
"Master."
"Where is your student?" Shifu asked, confused to not see Xin anywhere on the palace grounds.
"I told him it was our day off so he went to visit his family." Tigress told him.
"Ah I see," He said, "So how did your experiment go yesterday?" Shifu was curious to see if Tigress succeeded in her plan. She recapped what had happened last night, including the incident with the fire pits. "Interesting..." Shifu said, rubbing his chin.
"Master, I just don't understand how he can do all of that while intoxicated. It should make him worse but, if anything, it makes him an even better fighter." She told him.
"Well, sometimes it's a bit more psychological. Think about how he has lived, what he does. He only fights while drunk, so maybe that is why he can do better while staggering around like that."
"Well, what if it isn't really the alcohol that makes him a better fighter?" She asked.
"What do you mean?" He asked, curious as to what she was getting at.
"Well, maybe it's more of 'how' he is fighting instead of 'why'. Maybe he is use to staggering around like that and the alcohol just helps his... form." It was a little hard for her to admit that it was some form of fighting.
"Now that sounds like something you should test and find out for yourself." He told her, smiling a bit to see that she was putting more effort into this than he originally thought. "Well, I'll leave you to your training, Tigress." He said, leaving her to her thoughts.
Xin was running as fast as he could up the stairs. It seems that Zhi was wanting to collect on his and Xun's debt. But that couldn't be right, she doesn't even know Zhi, does she? Is that what she was going to tell him last night? That doesn't matter, all he needs is to get some help or more training. Maybe if he pushes himself hard enough for the next day he can just kick Zhi's ass tomorrow night at the bar. As he made it to the top of the stairs, panting from the long run, he shoved the note into a pocket and hurried off to the training room to find Tigress.
Tigress had just finished up most of her training for the night when Xin barged into the training room. "Is everything okay?" Tigress asked, noticing Xin out of breath and panting.
"Yeah, of course. Just... a lot... of stairs..." He told her, putting his hands on his knees to catch his breath.
"Well, yeah there are a lot of them. Did you run up them?"
"What? Yeah, wanted some exercise..." He told her, hoping she would buy it.
"You and exercise, don't make me laugh. Is something wrong?" She asked him, as though she was concerned.
"Nothing. Maybe I took what you said to heart yesterday."
"Okay..." She didn't want to believe him but stopped pushing the issue, "So you were looking for me?"
"Oh um, yeah I was." He told her, finally catching his breath, "My parents weren't home so I figured I would watch you train. Maybe learn a few pointers." He said, but soon realized that seemed a bit suspicious, "Only because there is nothing else to do." He threw in that last bit to keep her off his tail.
"Hmm, you seem really interested in training all of a sudden too. Are you sure something isn't wrong?"
"Yeah I'm sure, it's just... what we talked about yesterday. I need to learn that my actions have consequences.. or something wise like that. Hell if I know." He plopped down on the ground and leaned back against the wall.
"Yeah, okay." She replied and walked over to the spinning dummies. "Watch and see how these are suppose to be done."
Xin watched as she jumped into the clubs but his mind was too distracted by the note Zhi had left him. 'Bring me the money you and your sister owe me.' Xin wasn't sure what that meant, sure he owed Zhi money but why did his sister owe him money too? The mere thought about what would happen if he didn't go there tomorrow night made him sick to his stomach.
"Xin!" Tigress shouted at him. He noticed that she was now standing next to him, "Stop daydreaming, it's time for dinner."
Xin stood up and stretched, "Yeah, forgot that I slept for most of the day." He mentioned as he followed her out of the training room and towards the kitchen.
Everyone was sitting around the table as Po was handing out their dinner. They were talking about various things; fighting techniques, what Po would do if he went on a diet and even Tigress chimed in a couple of times.
"Hey, so uh guys. On the topic of fighting techniques, I get in quite a number of scraps myself, any tips?" Maybe he could get a couple of pointers out of them that didn't end with Tigress yelling at him for punching the wrong way. He was still having pain whenever he made a fist.
"We don't fight like your bar mates Xin. Not sure how much use talking to us would do." Tigress told him as well as giving him a curious glare.
"Hey, I'm just asking a question Tigress, err Master Tigress." He corrected himself as he talked to her. Plus he didn't want her to beat him up much today or tomorrow.
"Yeah Tigress, besides he's leaving tomorrow, right? And if he's a better fighter maybe he wont be in jail so much." Mantis said getting a glare from Xin, "I'm just kidding."
"Well, I know one thing to do is keep your emotions in check. Last thing you want to do is let your anger fuel your fighting. It can make you an easy target if you are just swinging around during a fight." Crane chimed in as he took another bite.
"Speaking of target's," Monkey told Xin, "Pick your target's well, if you know a weakness use it against them." Everyone seemed to agree with that example.
"Yeah, I see what you mean." Xin said, taking mental notes of what they told him.
"Oh don't do what most people do when they see Po on the battlefield," Viper told him and everyone looked over at her, "What? They get overconfident since they, and nothing against you Po but, they see a fat panda and think he is an easy target."
"Yeah, that happens more than you think." Po said, getting a laugh out of everyone including Tigress.
"Oh really?" Xin said, looking over a Po for a moment, "I guess I can see why people would think that about Po. But you don't become the Dragon Warrior and defeat Tai Lung with just luck." Xin commented.
"Well Shifu did do his best to train me before hand, but there is only so much you can learn in a short amount of time." Po said as he continued eating.
"Yeah..." Xin knew what Po meant by that. He had to learn as much as he could tomorrow or he might not make it out alive tomorrow. That was the first time Xin realized that he might not be alive by the end of the day tomorrow. But he couldn't think like that, he had to keep hope that he will overcome Zhi.
Their conversations slowly grew into silence as they all finished eating. Xin became distracted when he felt the note from Zhi in his pocket. He wasn't sure what was going to happen but he knew he was going to go there tomorrow night, what else could he do? He didn't even feel like eating and just played with his food. Po's voice broke the stupor he was in, he jumped just a little and nearly tipped over his plate.
"What?" Xin asked, looking over at Po who was staring at him.
"I asked if everything was okay, you aren't eating. Do you not like it? I can make something else if you want me too." He sounded just like his mother when he talked like that, causing memories to resurface about the pleasant dinners him and his family would have when he was younger. His mother was always making sure him, Xun and their father were happy.
"No it's great, just not that hungry I guess." He told Po, "I'm going to go lay down, I'm feeling like shit." He quickly got up and left for his room.
What was wrong with him, he had never been this emotional before. He was on his way to his room as his brain was running rampant with thoughts. Maybe it was the lack of alcohol or that he was just scared about tomorrow night. He would need to get a couple of drinks to help calm him down. Maybe tigress has some left over sake from the other day, he remembers seeing her backpack in the kitchen during dinner.
He closed the door to his room and jumped onto his bed. He tried to forget what would happen tomorrow night as he tried to go to sleep. He heard everyone else talking as they walked down the hallway to their rooms. Soon lights were turned off and the bunkhouse went silent, except for Xin's room. He tossed and turned for most of the night, listening to the sounds from the outside in hopes they would put him to sleep but his mind kept him up with thoughts of how tomorrow would play out. Hours passed as he tried to fall asleep but to no avail, his mind was a total mess. His blankets were tossed around the room and he looked like he had gotten into a fight; he was half laying on his bed and half laying on the floor when he realized their would be one way to calm his mind in a time like this.
Alcohol.
He remembered seeing Tigress' backpack in the kitchen during dinner, sitting near one of the cupboards. He got up from the floor, and bed; making his way to his door. He started walking towards the kitchen; floorboards were creaking as he walked and the sounds from outside seemed to go silent as it seemed they were trying to get him in trouble. As he got to the kitchen he looked around, to see if anyone had followed him from the rooms but he didn't see anyone. He walked over to the backpack and opened it up. Grabbing a couple of bottles and smiling to himself, Xin sat down at the table and started his favorite pastime.
SMASH!
Tigress jumped out of bed and made it to her door within a heartbeat. She had heard something that sounded like a window breaking, but it seems her comrades hadn't She knew she heard something break and that was when she looked over and saw Xin's door opened. Taking a quick look inside told her that Xin was somewhere in the building, and might be the cause of the sound she heard. He headed down the hallway and looked to her left, noticing that the kitchen light was left on.
'Xin...' She thought to herself as she headed for the kitchen.
She looked in the kitchen to see Xin at the table, there were quite a number of sake bottle around him. He was mumbling to himself as he peered down the bottle he held in his hand before tossing it to the side for it was empty. Tigress took a couple of steps inside but Xin didn't notice.
"Xin!" Tigress nearly shouted, catching his attention. Xin looked over at her and he smiled.
"Tigressess, you're here and you are here." He said as he tried to get up and come over to her, "You know, you are a friend of mine. So I want to tell you something, something..." He lost his train of thought as he gave her a blank look for a couple of seconds.
"Of curse you do but you need to get to bed. Now!" Tigress said. She walked over to him and grabbed his wrist. She started pulling him towards the kitchen door.
"No! I don't wanna go, he's going to get me when I leave tomorrow" Xin said as he grabbed onto the table but he simply started to drag it behind him.
"Xin, no one is going to get you. Just. Get. To. Bed." Tigress grunted through each word as she slowly pulled him closer to the door. "And let go of the table!"
"No! I'm not done drinking yet!" He shouted, giving the table a death grip.
"What do you mean you aren't done drinking?" Tigress said as she looked around the room. She saw at least 5 or 6 bottle of sake left on the table. She let go of him, "Okay let's do this your way. Is someone after you?" She wasn't sure if the alcohol was making him say stupid things but she can't take the table and him to his room.
"Yeah, yes he are, is um" He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, as if he was trying to remember something, "Zhi! His name, yeah him and he wants something. But you don't care do you?" He let go of the table and walked back towards the sake but Tigress grabbed him again; getting him away from anything he could grab anything again.
"No, I don't that much." Tigress told him as she kept pulling him out of the kitchen but he kept talking anyway.
"Yes you do, you like me re-remember? You didn't let me catch on fire. So let me tell you something, Xun's in trouble but I'm gonna save her. You just wait and see." And with that he passed out, falling on top of her again.
'Why does he always pass out on top of me?' Tigress asked herself as she dragged him back to his room. She slowly dragged him into his room and noticed how much of a mess it was. 'I bet this is what his brain looks like.' She walked over the blankets that were thrown about the room, "Tomorrow Xin, you are going to clean up this room." Tigress said aloud, "And now I am probably sounding like your mother..."
"...mom." Xin quietly said in his drunken sleep as Tigress laid him down on the bed. As Tigress left his room, she didn't notice but Xin started to cry.
Tigress started walking back towards the kitchen, knowing that she had to clean it up or face the wraith of Shifu in the morning. The kitchen smelt like sake; the table was covered in dried sake and empty bottles. She started picking up the bottles, throwing them in the trash but when she found one that Xin had only drank half of-
"No. Drinking this filth isn't something that I do." Tigress told herself, taking a sniff of the half empty bottle. She walked over to pour it out but she stopped herself; once again having another thought about drinking the sake. "Well... no one will know if I have a quick drink. I mean I did buy this stuff with my own money."
Tigress quickly looked around to see if anyone was in the kitchen before taking a quick drink. The sake burned her throat as it went down, causing her to cough a couple of times. It didn't have the best taste but it tasted better than the stuff Xin had been drinking or his breath. She wiped her mouth off on her arm and looked at the bottle, still had some in it. She finished the bottle and threw it into the trash, making a mental note to brush her teeth before going to bed. She had just finished cleaning the table off when she noticed that he also got the floor covered in the sake as well She saw the smashed bottle on the floor, along with a piece of paper next to it. "Oh come on Xin. Drinking it is bad enough but wasting a whole bottle?" She got it all cleaned up and that is when she remembered the note she found. She saw the name 'Xin' written on top of it and put it in her pocket. She wasn't going to peer into his personal property without his knowledge. After cleaning up the kitchen and brushing her teeth, she got back to her room, and quickly fell asleep.
GONG!
"Good morning Master." Everyone said as they stepped out of their room's to greet Master Shifu.
"Quiet the fuck down please!" Xin shouted from the other side of his bedroom door.
"Tigress!"
"I'm on it Master" She told Shifu as she walked over to his door. Shifu dismissed everyone as she stepped inside, his room looked the same as it was last night. "Xin! Wake up!" She shouted, pulling the covers off of him.
"No! And quiet down, I have a nasty hangover. Yet I don't remember drinking last night..." Xin told her as he tried to grab the covers again.
"Yeah you did. You snuck into the kitchen last night and helped yourself to my sake. Now get up, today is your last day remember?"
"It is?" Xin said excitingly as he perked up from the bed. He thought for a moment and a smile formed on his face, "It is! Ow..." Xin shouted before causing his head to throb in pain.
"Yes it is but before we go meditate I have to give you something" She left his room for a moment before returning with the note she found last night. "I found this in the kitchen last night after-"
"Did you read it?" Xin nearly shouted as he snatched the note from her hands and stuffed it in his pocket. "You didn't read it did you? I swear if you did..." He was getting really angry towards her.
"No I didn't," She told him, "Don't get angry with me over something so trivial. You know Xin, if something is wrong I can help." Tigress offered her help to Xin. Even if she didn't like him, she still wouldn't want anything to bad to happen.
"Don't wordy about me alright? I said everything is alright and I can take care of myself." He stepped out of the room to go meditate. Tigress knew something was up but didn't want to stick her noise in Xin's business
"So what do you want to teach me on my last day?" Xin asked.
"I will tell you late but first," She pushed him back into his room, "Clean it up before meditating."
After meditation and breakfast Tigress asked to the the training room to herself for a couple of hours to have a bit of privacy with Xin. The others didn't really know the type of training they were working on and would like to keep it that way. Last thing she needs is Mantis or Monkey cracking jokes about doing Kung Fu while drunk.
"Well I have another test for you and your 'fighting' style." Tigress said, making air quotes for the word fighting. Xin and her were standing near the spinning clubs again as she talked.
"Yeah okay but what was your last test for the other day? I still don't understand what you were trying to find out."
"I guess I can tell you. First, I was trying to see if the alcohol really does make you a better fighter. I watched you fight the other night at that bar and that thought passed through my mind."
"Oh okay, yeah it does. Not a good fight without some alcohol. If that was the first thing you were testing then what was the other?" He asked.
"It was how much can you drink before being completely out of it and not listen to me. After the 5th bottle of sake you kinda passed out."
"Well sake is stronger than what I usually drink at the bar, just letting you know." Xin told her.
"Anyways, today I have one last thing to test that might help you fight without alcohol."
"Yeah? And what would that be?" Xin was curious as to what Tigress was planning.
"Okay, it's hard to describe but I will try my best to explain. You see, when someone fights, they are at their best when they are in a familiar setting, fighting in a familiar style. Example, I am at my best when I fight using Tiger stance and here at the Palace whereas you are at your best when you are drunk and fighting at the bar." She started explaining.
"Okay, but what does this have to do with the training for today? Because I doubt you will let me go and have a drunken brawl during the day time."
"Yeah but I had a thought. Maybe you aren't a good fighter because you are drunk. Maybe it is because you fight like you are drunk. You are use to staggering about while you are fighting, something that most people do when they are drunk"
"So what you are saying is what? If I start staggering around then I will be just as good of a fighter as if I was drunk? That doesn't make any sense..." Xin wasn't really believing what she was saying.
"Well that is what we will be testing today. I want you to go through the spinning clubs again except this time act as though you were drunk." She commanded him as she got to her spot she was standing at the other day.
"Whatever." Xin muttered under his breath as he rolled his eyes. He stood next to the dummies, wondering how he would pretend to be drunk. He thought this whole exercise was complete bullshit and that it made no sense. He started to wobble back and forth, not putting that much effort into it.
He started through the dummies and was a tad surprised that it did seem to do the trick. He was doing better than he had the other day while he was sober. He quickly blocked a club that was heading for his face and ducked under it. He walked into another dummy but followed the club as it circled, using its force to keep him going through the maze. "Still think I'm better when I'm drunk!" He shouted towards Tigress.
"Don't get distracted." She told him but it was too late. He was too busy yelling to notice the club that tripped him. Just when he was doing decent he fell down and started falling through the entire maze, getting hit left and right before hitting the ground with a thud. He slowly crawled out from under the clubs, "I told you!" He heard her shout at him.
"Fuck! You!" He shouted at her, catching his breath as he slowly stood up. "Can we not do that again? I know you like watching me get hit but I don't want to go home in a body cast."
"You need to keep practicing if you don't want to keep relying on alcohol though. Go through it again, except keep yourself focused the entire time."
"Whatever.." He didn't want to get beat up too much since he would need his strength for tonight. He went through the course a couple more time, each time he got further and further through it before he would mess up.
"You see," Tigress said, a little excited that her theory worked out as planned just like the last, "With some more practice you can be a good fighter, drunk or not."
"Well I have to admit, you might be onto something with that whole 'pretending to be drunk fighting style' or yours." Xin commented as he stretched out his back. They started to walk towards the training room's door.
"So are you going to stay for dinner tonight?" Tigress asked Xin.
"Nah, I gotta get home. Didn't get to see my family yesterday."
"I understand." Tigress told him. They had just stepped out of the training room and were prepared to part ways when Tigress said, "Tell Xun I said hi."
"Oh that reminds me, the other day did Xun stay here after you dragged me off to get drunk?"
"I'm not sure but you can ask Shifu. I know they talk whenever she is over for dinner, you can probably find him meditating in the Hall of Warriors." Tigress told him as she walked off for the kitchen.
"Thanks." Xin said. As soon as she was out of sight he took off to find Shifu, maybe he would know more about what Xun wanted to tell him the other day.
Xin opened the giant doors leading into the Hall of Warriors and stepped inside to find Shifu meditating at the other end. He slowly started walking towards him, looking at the memorabilia that was in the hall. There were some swords, a set of armor that looked like it belonged to a rhino and an urn that seemed to be glued together. The last item he came across was a staff that was on a stand next to a picture of a tortoise Xin stopped and read the plaque next to it, reading "Master Oogway's Staff". The staff looked as though it was broken at one point but was repaired.
"Tai Lung broke the staff during our fight. It took me a while to find the right person to patch it up so it could be displayed at least" Shifu said, appearing out of nowhere.
"Yeah? Wish I could of met him, Oogway that it. He looks like a nice guy." Xin commented as he kept looking at the picture.
Shifu whacked him on his head, "That is Master Oogway and yes, yes he was." Shifu told him, "Now how was your stay here, did you enjoy yourself?"
"Well, I have to admit. It was interesting and it went better than I expected. But how did your plan go? You think Tigress is ready for her own student?"
Shifu nodded, "Yep. I'll be talking to her tonight about it. Picking a student isn't as easy as it may sound though."
"I bet, you could end up with someone like me." Xin said, laughing to himself.
"Yes it would but that isn't why you came to talk to me was it Xin?" Shifu asked.
"Well Shifu, the other day-" Xin started saying but Shifu whacked him on the head again, "I mean, Master Shifu. Whatever, did Xun talk to you the other day when me and Tigress were training?"
"Why yes, yes she did. She had a lot on her mind, poor girl."
"What did she tell you?"
"What's with all of the questions, is something wrong?" Shifu asked, giving Xin a concerned look.
"Um, yeah there is. Don't tell anyone but look at this." Xin told him, giving Shifu the note Zhi left for him.
"Oh no," Shifu said as he finished the note and handed it back to Xin, "Xun didn't think he would do this."
"What do you mean? Did Xun know that this would happen?"
"The other day she told me that this 'Zhi' was wanting her to pay off some kind of debt that she owed him."
"Why would she owe him money.." Xin said to himself. He had no idea why she would need to borrow money for him. He remembered the conversation they had in the jail house about a week ago.
"But i got a surprize for you. Payed your bail so you can go, mom and dad didn't want to until tomarrow but that would be mean." She said with a smile.
"You what? How did you get the money?" I asked her. She allways stuck her head out for me but never anything like this. "Why are you doing this?" I asked, wanting to know her true intentions.
"It's a surprise!" She told me.
"Oh shit..." Xin said, swearing under his breath. "Okay well I have to leave, it's almost time for me to meet with Zhi" Xin turned around and started walking for the door.
"Xin!" Shifu shouted after him, "You don't have to do this alone, we are here for this reason. Let me send Tigress or Po. Don't get yourself killed over this whole mess." He said, trying to reason with Xin.
"This is all my fault so I will take care of it." Shifu heard Xin say as he left the hall. Shifu just sighed and shook his head knowing very well that Xin was making a big mistake.
"Tigress you can come down," Shifu said, looking up at the rafters in the room. Tigress jumped down and landed next to him.
"I am sorry for eavesdropping Master." Tigress said, bowing in respect.
"It is okay Tigress, I understand if you are worried about him."
"I'm just worried about my first 'student' getting into a real fight without me there to make sure he isn't going to get himself killed. Shifu nodded in understanding as they stared at the Hall doors, wondering what will happen with Xin tonight.
Oh how cute, Xin grew a conscience, even it if is small in size. So, next chapter is the big showdown, Xin vs. Zhi, and it will be a big one. And since I'm not that decent with fight scenes it will take a bit to get it right, expect a late update by a day or 2.
So, a funny note that helps me write about/for Drunken Xin. If I were to have any romance in this story, I would say that it would be a one-sided DrunkenXin/Tigress, except Tigress kills him in the end for the insurance money... what?
Bonus! Got a funny picture in my mind when I thought about what will happen when Xin fight's someone, other that Tigress, when they have no idea what his fight style is.
Until next time, Good-bye.