Kung Fu Panda and all its content belongs to Dreamworks. References and other mentioned names, products, brands and all other licenses belong to their respective owners. I only own my OC's and storyline. This story is purely written for entertainment and hobby purposes. English is not my native language.
Thank you for giving this read a chance, and I hope you'll enjoy reading this.
Summary : A human accidentally gets stuck in a different world during a trekking trip, filled with anthropomorphic animals. Set on finding his way back home, Alexander Jenssen must survive in a world that seems vacant of humanity. But is that truly the case? Set between KFP and KFP2.
Slight warning for possible strong language. Don't really want to turn this M-rating, but don't want to dumb it down either.
Kung Fu Panda : A Whole New World.
"Huma- Strider, you said you sensed the assassins shortly before they came in while I couldn't. Their positioning was flawless. Care to explain?"
'Well shit. So much for keeping that a secret.' He thought bitter.
Chapter 10 : The Jade Palace.
"To fully explain everything about it would need hours of explaining of highly personal things, which I will not do now. I'll give you the basics later if you will respect my privacy of personal memories."
"Do I have your word that those 'personal memories' will not bring us trouble? For in such situation, you will tell us, because we need to know for our duties."
"Considering those memories are part of another world, I highly doubt they'd affect anything here." He retorted a bit snappish.
"Very well then. You will need t-"
"Master Tigress."
"What is it?"
"Kindly shut up. I'm trying to sleep here."
She wanted to retort but considered it futile and wiser to just be silent for now. No reason to force out another confrontation when he was, partly due to her account, exhausted from fighting, possibly haunting experiences, half-carrying her for a quarter mile uphill, healing for several hours to save her life and gone without sleep for the night as a watch. Even she would be tired from that.
No, it was better to let the disrespectful words slide this time. They made amends somewhat and everything would be a lot less complicated without the hostile and paranoid attitudes. He was much more likely to open up and thus allowing them to solve this matter.
His breathing pattern slowed a bit and he looked slightly more relaxed now. He had fallen asleep within a matter of seconds.
She changed her sitting position slightly and observed him again, now trying to distinguish some physical unique aspects that made him him. Not that she really could without reference to the rest of his species of course.
His clothes and other objects or properties were much more interesting. Some were recognisable, merely different in material and design. Others, she couldn't begin to fathom what purpose they possibly served. Like the strange band with the round metal piece on his wrist. It made a very light ticking sound now, in the near silence of the cave. Was it some way to keep track of time perhaps? It would be most ingenious, although she doubted such a small thing could do that. She'd ask him if it actually had a use later, beyond being strange jewellery.
She drifted away from her tumbling thoughts and sunk into mediation. Somehow the soft ticking helped.
Exactly three hours later, she was torn brutally from her meditations by a sound she could never have anticipated. A sudden loud repetitive sound, immediately followed by a high-pitched monstrous false melody, that sounded strange and aggressive to her came from somewhere on the floor. The voice sounded even more distorted, now that she had covered her sensitive ears with her paws in desperation.
"There must be some kind of way out of here!"
Wait. Those words, those hitting sounds other than the ugly voice… was that?...
"Said the Joker to the thief."
A groan resounded against the cavern walls in response to the offensive sound.
"There's too much confusion. I can't get no relief. YEE-HEA-HE-"- *Click*.
The way the noise was cut off so suddenly felt unnatural as a deafening silence covered the cave again.
Slowly, Tigress released her paws from her head while turning her attention to the human who was now awake, apparently to his great regret. She voiced the most logical question quietly, as if hesitated to break the heavy silence.
"What in the heavens' name was that?"
"The alarm app on my phone. I forgot it picks shuffle numbers from a wake-up playlist. Sorry."
"I did not understand anything of those words" she confessed grudgingly. "Speak in normal terms, like normal people do."
Alex looked incredulously to her for a few seconds before grinning.
"Normal? To me that was a perfectly normal sentence, grammatically correct and everything. You lot on the other hand, speak waaaay to formal. Hell, I'm barely using slang most of the time.
But to return to your earlier question, my phone is the communicational device that produced the noise. A function of it allows me to make it produce a sound when a certain time is reached. I put it on three hours ago, so it would warn me not to oversleep. The sound was a well-known song from my father's youth."
"That… was music?" That horrid ear-shattering noise was music?
"Um, yea. What else would it have been?"
"Don't release that twisted polluting noise again. Clear?"
"Aw, C'mon Stripes. You gotta respect the classics."
"Classics?"
"Yes! That was Jimi Hendrix' All along the watchtower, the version from 1968. Damn good song. Damn good artist. Until he died and joined the club of infamous twenty-sevens, that is. Shame I wasn't born yet to see him at Woodstock, would've given anything to have seen that." He said wistfully.
"It was awful and fits the definition of noise pollution perfectly."
"Oh, that's just asking me to play 'Rock & Roll ain't noise pollution' by AC/DC." He teased.
"Is it anything like that previous… thing?"
He grinned. "Worse."
"I'll break your skull if you dare to put it on."
"Very well, because you asked so kindly…" he gave in with an exaggerated sigh. "Give me a few moments to wake up and pack my basic bag so we can go to see your master and that palace of yours."
She gave him a nod in return and began her stretching. She vaguely saw him splash some cold water over himself in some effort to freshen up and was mildly interested when she saw him gather various objects that he would have to explain to her later. Soon after, both stepped outside once more to finish the trip they had started yesterday.
There was something different about him, she idly noticed. He had been very tense so far during their walk, even more so than yesterday. Part of the reason was obviously meeting her master and putting his fate in her paws. But there was something else, and she found it when she caught his gaze. She could nearly smell it off him now.
Fear.
He was afraid of her. Yesterday he was afraid of her as well, but in a different way she could not quite decide. His joking and teasing attempt earlier sounded more… forced than yesterday. She just couldn't point her claw on it, so she decided to simply ask him.
"You are more tense in my presence than yesterday. Have I not show trustworthy by fighting with you like you proven for me?"
"I've earned your trust?" he asked with a voice of disbelief.
"Of course not, I do not trust anyone. But you have laid certain previous doubts at rest about your character. And do not change the subject."
He was silent for some time before answering very quietly. "Because yesterday, I got a wake-up call of the kind I never wished to have. I don't fear you suddenly turning me in anymore, but what I saw you do to that last foe was… oh to hell with it. It was horrifying and gruesome, fryktelig og gyselig, that's what it was!"
"Battle is never pleasant. Were you truly so foolish to think otherwise?" she inquired, a bit condescending.
"No. I've seen the results of battle enough. I'm the guy that tries to heal the survivors, remember?" a small glare was sent her way, as if it was her that had sent people to his past who he had to heal or operate. Or sometimes, when nothing else could be done, holding their hand and talking with them in their last moments so they were not alone.
"I despise fighting completely, and have yet to see a single thing of glory or greatness that came out of it. War has no winner, only a loser. But I digress: this place seemed so… pleasant at times, almost childlike, by lack of a better description. Like the most serious thing that happened were some bandits so amateurish it was almost comical. Where the horrors and suffering of my world are so light and small scaled that they seem more like an minor day. Yesterday, the things I did, the way I saw you tear that guy to shreds reminded me that I had ignored my self-preservation around beings like you. That this place is real, is harsh and is mortally dangerous and that I'm just a guy out of place here, without a clue of what to do."
"Beings like me?" She asked sharply.
"I'll explain further later today as well. It has to do with one of the key differences of my world and this one."
"Very well." She concluded, not entirely satisfied but letting it rest for now as well. The reason was so obvious she should have seen it coming. Of course he was afraid of her. Everyone was afraid of her and most hadn't seen her fight as brutally as literally tearing an enemy apart with her own claws. Of course he was going to be afraid of her now. Even if he wasn't, he possibly couldn't have dealt yet with the aftermath of it, if that truly was his first of such fights. He was no warrior, no better than a commoner in such aspects of battle.
"How does your wound feel?" he asked suddenly, halting her musings and making her focus on her side.
"Slightly bothering, but nothing too cumbersome. As long as it is not overstretched it shall be of no trouble."
"Right. The morphine effects?"
"Have taken off largely, although it still feels a bit numb."
"I'll wear out during the day and will be gone by the evening. Perhaps it's good it's still slightly numbed, or you would be hindered more during this climb, no?"
Tigress made a sound of agreement.
"So, since you consider good old Hendrix, one of the best guitarists to ever live to be noise pollution, what sort of music do you like?"
"I am quite fond of the guzheng."
He stared at her, mouth gaped open like a fish. "You're kidding."
"I am not."
"The Guzheng? That big and clumsy string thing that makes silly 'ptoink, ploïnk' sounds? That guzheng?"
"To be able to play it is a great art, very few can do so!"
"It sounds utterly ridiculous. I could perfectly recreate it with a rubber band. All it does is generate laughing. The awkward kind." He raved on.
"That is a worthless comment, coming from someone who values screaming incomprehensible noise." She retorted.
Both glared at each other and walked on in silence, not wanting to give in until Alex broke first.
"Alright, maybe I'm not the right person to judge, since I've yet to hear any kind of eastern music that I can somewhat tolerate. And since you know nothing about modern music and its cool evolution, I get it would sound like noise to you. How about we both admit we don't like each other's genre, but also admit we don't know shit about it?"
She mulled it over. "Formulate it less vulgar and I might agree."
"Let's both just agree to disagree."
"Agreed then."
He couldn't resist throwing some last jab, though it was with a broad grin on his face. "I still think it sounds ridiculous though."
"Likewise for yours." Tigress responded, with an expression that a very bitter man could almost have called a faint smile. Alex was sure one of the corners of her mouth went a bit up, though it was hidden just as swiftly. It was probably just wishful thinking on his side.
Soon their path took them sideways towards the edge of the village. Alex raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing as they made their way into the streets. He was sure he received strange looks, but Master Tigress' presence was enough to signify something. Whatever that was -fear, respect or downright worship- made no one bother them. The reason they entered the village became apparent when he could see the arch signifying the bottom of the stairway of the thousand steps between the brownish red painted houses.
He looked up, and could barely see an end. The stairs made faint curves, following the path of the mountain but overall it was very broad, straight and steep upwards. He had to admit, he was impressed. Imagine a long stairway towards a massive temple of ancient times, but in prime condition. Tourist-overrun ruins did such original places no justice, he now realised.
"Is it really a thousand steps?"
"Thousand and forty-six actually due to repairs over time, but originally it was a thousand from this point to the gates of the Jade Palace." There was a hint of pride in her voice. "And another hundred to the true palace."
"Jævla, my legs are going to kill me in the morning."
"There is a small rest-point halfway, many citizens cannot make it in one trip."
"Ah, makes sense I suppose."
No response came as the Kung Fu master simply started ascending the long stairs, the human following her a few steps behind. Soon they struck up conversation again, this time Tigress asking most questions.
"That word you uttered earlier, 'jeevli' was it?, was it a different language? It sounded quite different than the other words I am unfamiliar with."
"'Jævla'. And yes, I'm surprised you managed to pick that up. It's Norse, my native language."
"It is the first time I heard you relapse to your mother-tongue. Why is that?"
"My mother was British, my father Norse. They raised me bilingual. It's just as native to me as Norse. More even, given that I've not been in Norway for… nearly three years now. I only relapse now if I was thinking in Norse at that moment. My sister relapses more often, but then again, she still lives there."
"You have a sister?" She asked with genuine curiosity.
"Yes." He stated tense and rigid. That was unusual. Usually he instantly continued the conversation, either by broadening the subject in his answer or by steering it in another direction. Such short and blunt answers, followed by a tense silence were unusual and only when he was completely serious. In such moments he was easy to read when there were no smiles or emotional mask to hide behind.
Now that she thought about it, he seemed open enough about his own life and with the exception of the earlier 'sensing' discussion, he wasn't hiding anything, more often than not explaining more than she expected. Either a way to distract her by a distracting amount of trivial information or a willingness on his part to show his trustworthiness, purposefully or not, most likely. But he had never before mentioned something about family, or friends by name until he slipped right now… clearly such information was not shared as lightly. She doubted he had divulged anything on this front to Kara or Feng either. A streak of protectiveness or a cultural taboo?
"So what does jævla mean?" she asked, in some attempt to get the conversation flowing once more.
He gave a cheeky grin. "Something impolite."
The tenseness was gone and they relapsed in their exchanging banter. Both laid off of approaching any subjects and comments they considered possibly offensive or severely different for the other one. Neither wanted an angry, violent or hurt reaction and tried their best to uphold diplomacy.
It wasn't relaxed like actual friends talking by a long shot. But the shot was several steps of improvement compared with yesterday.
The sun was high in the sky now and shining brightly on the valley as a perfect summer's day with a deep blue sky and a few wisps of clouds floating lazily around the mountaintops. A faint cool breeze coming from the higher mountains caressed the grassy hillsides next to a great stair and made the grass flow like water in the wind.
Alex welcomed the breeze. He was heaving slightly under the warm sun, even though it got more bearable now that they were getting higher. The great stairway came at an and after a final faint turn under an arch of red of gold and revealed the outer gates. He stood aside catching his breath in controlled and steady intakes, trying not to heave too heavily. They hadn't paused on the way despite his legs screaming in protest.
Moving further on they crossed a courtyard with large buildings of wood in red and gold on white stone on the sides with a great number of seats in it. It almost looked like a tournament stadium, or a theatre more exactly. His guide ignored it though and walked to the end until she stopped right before a pair of broader, longer stairs guiding the way to what could only be described as a mythical temple-palace in the height of its glory.
It was imposing. It was a showmanship of skill and wealth.
It was beautiful.
"Strider, I need you to listen very closely now and follow my order exactly this time. Not for mine, but for your own sake. So far I have not made any real comment about how you address me, because I do not care if more important issues are in motion. But now, it is important. So far, you have interacted with jokes, strange words and phrases or comparisons I would have found quite insulting had it been someone else. I let it slide for a multitude of reasons, you not knowing them and not being downright disrespectful either one of them."
"Feng is a simple-minded, joking friend. Master Shifu is not. He is hero across China, the greatest Kung Fu instructor of the last generation, one of the most elevated members and leaders of the Kung Fu Council, is the Grandmaster of the Jade Palace, was a personal student of the great Master Oogway and has authority over the entire valley should he wish so. Even now he is nearly unmatched in skill. He is not someone you cross or to be trifled with."
"I get it. So this is the part where, when I say something trivial he will see it as an insult and have me executed or do it himself?"
"That type of sarcastic comment is what I meant. And no, he wouldn't have you executed over something so lightly. He values the sanctity of life too much for that. However, he would be in his full right to question you, thanking you for your effort and time and dismiss you, not seeing it worth to help you in such a strange manner. Then you are nowhere or in more trouble than before. And that would be him not addressing you on any rudeness, which he regularly did in the past."
The seriousness her words bore seemed to have broken through as he stared morose in front of him, eyes untrained on anything specific.
"Just do your best to be your utmost respectful. I know you are not familiar with our customs, but I have seen a few moments where you were polite and respectful to me, sparse as they were. Do not grovel before him or attempt to lick the bottom of his sandals. He would notice immediately and think of you as a spineless slimy coward which would be even worse. Do you understand?"
"Yes, yes, I understand. Polite but not simpering, respectful but not slimy, try do address him properly, try to remember etiquette, no slouching… I can do this… I think."
"Let's hope so. Wait here while I will go and relay the events that transpired yesterday. We or someone else will come for you."
"Okay." He said in a smaller voice than he meant.
She gave him a last searching look that seemed to say 'Don't do anything stupid' before ascending the stairs and entering the palace while Alex remained behind on his lonesome. He waited for a couple of minutes before setting down his backpack and seating himself on a small side-wall.
He heard some muffled gasps and saw a few small goats or sheep harshly whispering and pointing to him before scurrying away from his gaze. More people who saw him as a flesh-eating alien. Wonderful. Technically they wouldn't even be wrong with that, would they? He put his bow apart from his pack and his arrows in reach. Just in case they tried anything. He wasn't in a mood for offensive shouts now and a weapon in open display might make them think twice before approaching him with stones.
Ten minutes passed. Another fifteen. According to his watch it had been twenty-nine minutes and seventeen seconds since the Kung Fu master had let him here. At the exact tic that announced thirty minutes passed he heard the sound of something massive opening above him. The doors of the Jade palace were opening, and two figures stepped outside, descending the stairs towards him.
He stood up quickly and held his bow in a non-threatening position whilst holding it close like a small child who is reassured when they hold their stuffed bear close. With the slight difference that a teddy-bear cannot kill people with arrows, of course.
He stood in front of the stair at fifteen feet away as a respectable distance. The small figure stopped three steps before the end, the taller one stepping down said three. So far, he could only have guessed who or what would come for him, though Master Tigress' presence was nearly a given. Before him stood something smallish with brown fur, though the larger part of its head was white, including the bushy eyebrows, moustache and beard, which were all thin but long, even though the beard was braided. It was wrapped in a fine brown and green robe that didn't quite manage to hide the big bushy tail that wagged behind him.
It was the most ancient and most pissed off red panda Alex had ever seen.
No words were said as Alex felt it might be impolite to be the one to take the initiative of the conversation on one's own home and to be better to wait for the other. Said other one simply looked hard at him as if he saw right through him. If he didn't know better, he would've been convinced the red panda had an x-ray vision and he was being screened in a way Professor Charles Xavier of X-Men would have been jealous of. Although Charles Xavier never had that pissed off glare.
Then a command sounded. "Follow me" he stated, already turning his back on him and ascending the stairs once more at a remarkable speed for such little legs, tail wagging behind him once more. With a sigh he followed while Tigress followed him suit. It hadn't escaped him that she was behind him to prevent any chance of him running or doing anything beyond just following. Inwards, he prayed to every deity he knew of that this entire thing would turn out alright.
"Well, human. I am Grandmaster Shifu. You have been in the valley for quite a while now, at least a month to my knowledge and probably longer. Your species has not been seen here before and some of encounters between you and citizens of the valley or my students require some explanation. Would you care to enlighten us of your side on this all?"
"Of course, I'll answer to the best of my ability." He was fully aware it hadn't been a question at all.
"Good. Why don't you introduce yourself first?"
"My name is Alexander Jenssen, son of James and Elizabeth Jenssen and born in Oslo on the first of October, 1990." He said. He remembered that bowing was a very common custom but wasn't sure of the exact form so finished with an average bow with his right hand over his heart. If his bow was considered strange or bad, there was no such reaction to it.
"Master Tigress has already given me a report on the events that transpired yesterday concerning you, but I would need to hear your version as well, among many other things, but this seems best to start with for now before we plunge in deeper water. So, begin telling what happened according to you since yesterday morning."
He paled a bit more at the memories but spoke without hesitation as he gave a clear account of everything that happened since he left Feng's place with her, the attack, the arrow, the night of healing work, to the time he was left at the stairs. He left out the contents of their conversations including the conflict and apologies between him and Tigress, for privacies sake.
"Your version matches the one of my student well enough it seems, if slightly less detailed.. but that is of no matter. Now, to move onto deeper waters, there are another couple of explanations I would require. I think you already know which ones, do you not?"
"I can take a probable guess."
"Which is?"
"You want to know how I got here, why I'm here, and about my time and exploits in the valley, not counting all the possible later questions of my differences."
"Yes, those are quite correct. Let us begin then, with the first one. Why are you here?"
"I wish I knew" He said a bit lost with a sigh. "As to how I got here, my last memory back 'home' was that I was climbing a cliff near the Geiranger fjord. I was on my way home via this high point and I climbed it for memories sake given I'd been there before. Something –I'm still unsure as to what exactly- happened and caused a rockslide and the whole cliff to come down. I was falling and I hit my head. Next thing I know, I woke up in a field a mile or five north of the valley. I've got dozens of scientific theories by now, but they only raise more questions or impossibilities. The best I can come up with is that it was a freak accident and I'm in a different yet parallel universe without my kind ever evolving, but instead many other animals evolved along our path."
"I thought you came from a different world. Not a different universe. Besides, there is no such thing. Different worlds I can imagine, given the gods and the life beyond do not happen on the mortal world so it could be possible that there be more. But a different universe? Hardly." Tigress began to interrupt while Shifu simply listened.
"Universe and world could as words be changed without changing much to the explanation seeing as world especially is open to interpretation. And yet, universe may be more accurate. A world is a planet, a body in space, a giant sphere made of solid material, or even a liquid or gas sometimes."
"What do you mean, spheres? You speak as if the world is round." She continued.
"… that's because it is."
"Oh please, you expect us to belie-"
"Shtshtshut! I'll explain that one later on, an expanded lesson on space and astronomy if you want but for now, please don't interrupt anymore like that while I explain the basics, okay? Good. Now, as to worlds, tell me. When you look at the stars, what do you see?"
"The lights of the heavens illuminating the sky." Shifu answered confused, putting himself in the conversation once more.
'Well, I suppose that's one way of putting it.' "Not really the answer I was looking for. Every single light out there is a giant body in space, be it a star, a planet, a moon or even a large asteroid. All these things are thousands, if not millions or billions of miles away. Light-years. We are on a planet. The planet I know as earth, though you may have a different name for it. There are more planets out there, nine and the major star which we all circle around, the sun. When it's night, this side of the planet is simply turned away from the sun and thus only has darkness from outer space to watch too. Again, this is explained by the planet being round and spinning completely around it's centrum in a single day. In the day we're turned towards the sun. But we're getting side-tracked.
If this planet is a "world" then the other planets, or even stars are worlds too. Yet they are in the same cluster, a part of the universe. This is also the only habitable planet with air in this cluster, on the other's you'd instantly freeze to death or be cooked alive by the respective temperature, ignoring the lack of an atmosphere. In other clusters there may be other habitable planets or worlds but none quite such as this one, or my one. This one matches mine in geography, language, several parts of the culture, animal species,… you name it. It could not possibly be a coincidence with another habitable world in the known universe.
There for, I see only one true possibility on this : I'm in a parallel universe where my world, earth, evolved without my species, the humans. Instead, several other species such as yourself have the role we had on my world."
"If given such a description, I could understand you see it that way. But this theory only verifies that there could be other worlds, in such another… "cluster" of the universe as you name it. It would be uncertain about the existence of other universes."
Alex was mildly, but pleasantly surprised that the old master had managed to keep up completely. He feared explanations like these could get him hanged with a medieval mindset. Tigress kept looking stoic again. Meaning she lost it half way through.
"Everything except the parallel universe thing has already been proven back home. My people developed a way to travel to the moon and back forty years ago. The parallel universe cannot be proven of course, because we can't simply travel or look to it. But a popular theory is that for every decision taken, a parallel universe is created where the other choice is made, thus creating infinite universes and a universe on itself is already infinite.
Imagine a building with an infinite number of rooms in it and each such a room represents a universe. Normally there is of course a wall between such rooms so one cannot mix with the other. But sometimes a wall is thin, and a crack might even appear so something might slip through before it's closed again. I think that I accidentally fell through such a 'crack'. This is of course an abstract representation, but it might help."
"Ignoring the general insanity of all those words and the casual way with which you shove aside all of our learnings of centuries old about the outer realms, that actually made some sense." Shifu said, surprise definitely colouring his voice. "I'm afraid our learning are so oppositely formed that I cannot correctly imagine or fully comprehend it. I am not as learned in the subjects of the stars. But it is as good an explanation as any I suppose, if not better. You mentioned your people developing differently. How so? And just a few examples please, otherwise we could be here for another ten moons I suspect."
"Well, there are two major differences back home. Please note in advance these are basic facts, not an attempt at insulting you." After Shifu's nod he continued.
"The easiest one is that my people are simply much further developed in technological, and scientific means. I will leave the discussion of philosophic or social superiority concerning our civilizations out because that's quite subjective and situational. I've got several objects as proof of the technological part and as for the science… well, the easiest proof is that Master Tigress is standing next to you now, thanks to a cure of our medical science. This entire place… it resembles our China of a thousand years ago. Perhaps a bit less, but you get the point. This would be what we call "Ancient China".
As for the other difference : the relation between humanity, my kind, and the other animal species. Here, you all or at least a multitude of species that show vast differences all live together, in houses, cities, in an intelligent civilization. They – you are all self-aware. Self-conscious. But back home, only humans lived and evolved like this. The other animals remained -for lack of a better word- wild, while humanity lost its natural instincts somewhat.
I don't know how evolution here worked but this whole society goes against one of the basic laws of nature. The one of predator and prey. Hunter and hunted. Every animal eventually gets eaten or hunted by a bigger one on the food chain. A tiger back home would be on the very top of the food chain. If I encountered a version of you on my world in the wilds Master Tigress, it would most likely try to eat me and would probably succeed in doing so."
"You mean to say that… tigers on your world… eat other beings?" she asked greatly disturbed. It was strange seeing her so openly horrified.
"Yes. Every feline or canine is essentially a predator, a carnivore. I'm an omnivore. A sheep would be a herbivore. Which brings us to the final part of this point : the general anatomy and sizes. Your sizes are much more comparable with each other. A common cat back home would be small and not stand much higher than my ankle on four legs in its natural pose, while here nearly all animals walk straight on their hind legs like a human, and are much more comparable in sizes to a human. A cat is here between four and five feet tall, I'd wager. Master Tigress is certainly smaller than a tiger back home. It's almost as if humanity here doesn't exist but is partially ingrained in you all… I don't really understand it."
That took some processing and many more minutes passed discussing it. They were not too fond of the picture this human had shaped of their respective species back home. Ultimately, Shifu decided to move on to the next matter before tempers went out of control. Alex gladly agreed.
The next hour was filled with little else than discussing everything he had done during his stay in the valley, from his way into the valley to the festival. Shifu also showed considerable interest in his bow and spent several minutes observing it.
"Will you explain our earlier discussion that you held off until now?" Tigress inquired.
"What discussion?" Shifu asked.
"Right before the ambush when he caught their presence he said he sensed them, but their positioning was good. They did not have any flaws in their hiding positioning, and given that we've already established his senses of smell and hearing are less precise than mine I did not understand how he managed that. He promised to explain us later."
Master and student looked upon their guest with curiosity in their expecting gaze.
"Alright, but I warn you, it's quite complicated so how to tell you in such a manner that you understand..."
"I am sure I shall be able to follow, complicated or not" Shifu interrupted, a tad annoyed.
"Just like we've already established that Tigress' and most likely your senses are better than mine, we've already established that my society is simply ahead in terms of technological and scientific level. Many concepts that are ordinary to me are unimaginable to you, simply because they do not exist here and the same in reverse. That is neither a good nor a bad thing, nor has it anything to do with wisdom or even intelligence. It simply is a basic fact." Alex said far calmer than he felt.
Shifu glanced to Tigress who didn't show any surprise to the human's reaction. Recognizing that it was merely formulated a bit blunt rather than meant as an insult he waved for the human to continue rather than let his annoyance take over on such a small grief.
"It actually has to do with a long history of my parents and even my grandparents their careers, goals and lives, so I'll give you the briefer, relevant version without the years of study in it.
Both of my parents are scientists, more specifically in the chemical and medical sector. They tried to improve or create medical drugs against various illnesses that we can't cure easily enough yet. One of these was called Alzheimer."
"Now Alzheimer is a strange thing. Not exactly lethal on itself, it primarily makes one forget many things. This can be about trivial things, like forgetting certain habits or small things that needed to be done but such things can simply be attributed to old age. In worse cases someone can completely forget for a while how to get home, where he is, or what the safety laws are. And those can obviously have rather dangerous consequences. In some of the worst cases, it can even cause people not to recognise their own family, a parent no longer remembering their own child when said child stands next to them. It does more than that, but that's one of the prime signs."
Tigress' and Shifu's eyes widened a bit with that.
"So my parents, being the geniuses they are developed an entire new starting synthesis to work with, based on cells of vastly different animals to look for ways to strengthen basic human cells with ways that most viruses or conditions would lose to, simply because they wouldn't work one sad animals in the first place. One of these animals were fish, more precisely sharks. Fish have this strange sort of line on their sides that allows them to feel small shockwaves in water to tell them more about their surroundings. Not unlike the aquatic equivalent of the whiskers of a cat, to have more information in the dark. Sharks go beyond average in that they can sense electromagnetic pulses of kinds from long distances away. It's pretty much a 'sixth sense'. Imagine being able to feel movements in the air around you to help you both feel and envision your environment."
"In the beginning, this path didn't seem to go anywhere. Many people had thought of using animal material before and while it created many classic superhero - or villain – stories, its results were largely fictional. But my parents succeeded. They found an opening and due to several links they created that I don't understand myself they managed to create a cure with enormous potential based on the regeneration factor of the cells and not only those in your brain. It could no longer only work against Alzheimer, but against many other things! Not only that, they found out it held the key to a quicker recovery, to hardening bone, fastening the process of cell regeneration and thus accelerating the process of soft tissue, even neural tissue! In more simple terms : it could help people recover from physical ailments quicker than before and making them less vulnerable than the first time around. It had the sheer potential of revolutionising our entire medical sector and shooting it forwards for a decade or two."
"Now, for reasons I deem to personal to my family's secrets to reveal, we'll skip a few parts and end up at a more relevant point where the contents of such a monster –a test-tube– entered my bloodstream. Problem was, that that tube was far from finished. It was a work in progress. Showing serious potential to succeed, but not refined and controlled yet, and certainly not safe for. Now, I already had very small parts of them in my bloodstream because I helped out in my parent's private laboratory. It is, I guess, what helped me be compatible with it. If not, chances are high I would have died a very poisonous death that day. The process was… not nice. To say the least. It interacted quite fiercely with my nervous system for example."
He shuddered for a moments caught back in time. It was a highly unpleasant memory. His two-person audience was quiet too, processing all that they had heard. They didn't understand specific terms but he had explained decent enough for them to understand sufficiently.
"And then? I take it we now hear how this has affected you compared to any ordinary person of your kindred?"
"I suppose so, yes. To put it simple, I've already mentioned most of the key factor. The cell regeneration. It allows me to recover from most typical physical wounds or other illnesses in much shorter time-span. A broken arm has in perfect conditions no more than two or three weeks needed, rather than six to eight. I'm partially immune to most things poisonous, be it heavy pollution, bad food, venom or certain viruses. I need a bit less sleep on average, but not much difference there."
"Another important one is my metabolism, or the way or speed at which your body functions. Whether you have a lot of energy, how quickly you burn through your food and all that. Mine's very versatile. When my body senses I've a surplus of food it works harder meaning I have more energy to spare and recover quickly. If the opposite, it will slow down and allow me to go with much less for a long while, while placing greater limits on me making me weaker than the average fellow. It also means it's really difficult for me to get fat or drunk for example. I am grateful for the first one but not so much for the second."
"So while it will not help you in direct danger or emergencies at all, it can ease things greatly in the long run, travels or general life."
"Yup. A lethal wound has just as much chance of killing me as anyone else. I'm not the fricking Wolverine or something. It doesn't make me really faster or stronger either, not any more than a person in similar shape. But I've got more chance surviving poison, more chance to survive the shorter aftermath and more chance to survive when food, water and similar circumstances are dire. And I can't get fat. I think that's it."
"Not yet. The thing that started this was the way you sensed others. Has this to do with the sharks you mentioned?"
"Very astute of you Master Tigress. And yes, it has everything to do with that. I possess a similar sense, as in that I can sense electromagnetic pulses through the air, or something that resembles them at least. Things that create such a thing for example, are beating hearts. But it's not that accurate. Generally the bigger the source or creature and the less various sources, the clearer it is to discern a certain sense there are many sources of such energy back home, but the only ones that I've managed to learn how to discern are humans or thus, similar readings of other creatures. I'll know if other sources are present, but I wouldn't know what they were.
To illustrate : in the lone woods, with no one else nearby, I would be able to sense Master Tigress from sufficiently far away to make preparations, especially if I was already 'listening' so to say. Perhaps a quarter mile? While you Master Shifu, I would barely be able to sense you beyond this room here, if at all. Everyone 'feels' a bit different and with longer exposure to a certain individual, I'm able to discern them from the rest of their species. I'd be able to recognise Feng or Kara now from another wolf, but if they stand in a group of wolves, then all I'll feel is a bunch of wolves."
"That sounds rather incredible and I find it a bit hard to believe."
"Perfectly understandable. Would me notifying you of other presences in this hall –a panda, a snake, a large bird and a monkey– help in convincing you? From what I've heard, those match up with three of the five members of the Furious Five team and your 'Dragon Warrior'. Since Master Tigress is also present, I take it the only one I've missed is Master Mantis and he is simply too small for me too sense but I guess he's here somewhere as well since it would fit the entire team."
Shifu looked wide-eyed for a few moments and then made some gesture to which several hidden figures came to the light with fluid movements. A moment later they all stood in pose behind their master, silent, rigid and ready. Except for one.
"Ohohohoho, so you can sense everyone around you? That's so cool, it'd be so handy during those stealthy sneaky missions where you could surprise everybody! I betcha it would be awesome in a fight and you could evade everything and win without a scratch because you'd know where they would be before the would know it even if they were hiding and…"
Shifu could not blame the human for taking a slow step backwards and regarding the giant panda with a wary eye. He'd do the same.
"… Is he always like this?" the guest asked uncertainly.
"Alas so." Came the confirmation of a sighing Master Crane.
"What manner of mania is he suffering from?"
"Mania?" Shifu asked.
"A mental disorder in which an individual is overexcited, hyperactive, and wildly optimistic beyond."
"You people have enough guys like Po to have a name for that sort of thing? Man, that sucks." Someone, Alex thought it was the insect -Master Mantis- brought in.
"We have no specific term, but a mental disorder was all but verified" Tigress put in disinterested, as if one spoke about a long lost cause.
"…. And so it would be ultra AWESOME! RIGHT GUYS?"
"Right, Po" the snake said in a benevolent tone. Alex was certain he had seen such looks on overly patient mothers.
"Thank you Po, calm down now. Students, you can go down to dinner while I discuss further developments with our guest. Dismissed."
"Master." They all chorused with a perfect bow, their hands, paws, feathers or thingies clasped together.
"You as well, Tigress." He added to his student who lingered on. She followed her comrades after a last hard look and human and red panda were alone.
Shifu pondered for a few minutes, just mulling things over in his head. His thinking process was betrayed by small flickers of emotion and his eyes not really looking at any place in particular until they focused on his conversational partner once more.
"What if we arrived at an agreement?" he asked.
Alex narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. "What manner of agreement are you talking about?"
"It is obvious we must come to some sort of an agreement for this situation to be handled. We must simply look at our options. Unfortunately I cannot just help you like that, not in the last place because I don't really know how, but also for more complicated reasons."
Seeing no motion to interrupt he continued. "You may or may not understand it but the Jade Palace is not merely a complex of halls were sacred artefacts are stored and kung fu students are trained. It has been a seat of ruling and governing should the situation call upon it for the entire valley and has even the highest direct authority over the entire province, save for the kung fu council, the emperor and similar entities. The way we come to an agreement reflects not only on you, but on the Jade Palace, everyone tied to it and potentially far more."
"So it is for a possible political backlash that you must ensure the Jade Palace has some sort of advantage over me in an official way that if I did something wrong, you have something to recall upon or control me. Or at the very least protect your reputation to explain yourselves. A political and strategic manoeuvre." Finished Alex' voice. His eyes were a bit more narrowed now as a sign of a man who detected something suspicious.
"Quite right, but not only for our reputation or advantages, but yours as well. If you would be linked to the Jade Palace it would grant you a certain level of protection among other things that you could not get on your own."
"… but you require something in return. It sounds like quite a big favour for a wild card like me. Too big. I've learned that people rarely do something for free if it may affect them and you are in a position of power, which means you've got quite a bit to lose. What is the true deal here then? What's the price on my side?"
"Restrain yourself, there is no need for such outbursts. Although your level of caution is not an unwise trait to possess. The truth is actually better than you seem to expect. While I could simply thank you and say it's impossible to help you, it would stain my honour if I did not at least try. You helped three of my students out of a dire situation. One may have been a foolish gamble but with an admirable goal –to diffuse a fight altogether- but there is no denying you saved Master Tigress' life. And you saved the lives of you younglings were we failed to notice. I feel I am required to help you at least without demanding anything that does not affect the palace directly.
The way I see it there are several options. I could take you as a student, temporarily or not, I could either assign you as a guest, ward or ambassador, take you in service or you could remain on your own if you so prefer not to associated with us in public."
"Could you please explain what each of those situations entails, Master Shifu?" he asked with a frown.
"Certainly. If you are in service in any way with the Jade Palace, it would allow you certain privileges and certainties, along with a level of protection. As a student you would be required to train with us and have certain duties, like protection of the valley, patrols and a sworn oath. Given your rather unique situation, I would allow you freed from said oath to return home were it possible. However, until such a time, I would be your grandmaster, and one of the current masters would be your master. They would have command over you and you would need to obey as a student. However, even an adult student automatically has a military rank and such rights and this would be rightfully your home.
A guest would be no more than that. You would be welcome to stay for a long while, but you would have no more privileges than any valley-born adult citizen. As a ward of the Palace, you would not be required to do any duties except the occasional demand but you would be tied to the palace and thus me. It would be your home but until I release you from it I could refuse or command you of certain things, nor would you have a rank coming from the council, but be acknowledged within the valley or province. This all would require you of course to stay within the Jade Palace and make certain public appearances. If you choose to remain in hiding in your cave like before, you could. But then the Jade Palace would not be tied with you."
"What of the… ambassador?"
"A slightly trickier idea. The Jade Palace and the council would recognise you as an ambassador of sorts of a foreign state and after helping us out we are providing a return service. As an ambassador you would be allowed to remain here as a protected guest for as long as your mission requires while the Jade Palace or the Council can call upon you for council or advice, but cannot demand rights to physical or informative aid unless given. It would again give you certain right and privileges but they would be tied to you as a person more than to us. In strange coincidence, your mission would be as along as until you could return home.
It is no lie, for you are the first we meet of a different state, larger and more important than any we've faced since ancient times, so that automatically makes you a spokesperson for your state. And until someone of your own negates this and proves you are no such thing and they have a 'true' ambassador you would be one. That it is a state in a different world was never really considered in the laws, so no law has been crossed. Merely playing out a small loophole."
"This may sound stupid but why do I need to be associated with the Jade Palace for aid? After all, I'm looking for a way back home. If you have that knowledge or starting points I could go from there or be sent home in which case none would ever see me again. So why? Reassurance that I'm a known factor to the valley?"
"It would indeed solve things if the guards or the people knew we keep track of you so nothing escalates. You may not realise it but there are many rumour about you in the valley, most of them ill. A public appearance or notion from us would let them rest. As for the aid… if we have such knowledge it is in the archives and I simply cannot let you enter those alone. There are secrets and powers kept safe I do not want unleashed or known or damaged in any way. And I would be present with you during your search, not only as a safeguard but also to help for efficiency. None in China know these archives currently better than I and even I know little of all its mysteries. But I simply cannot let you enter those while acting like a fugitive."
"What would be easiest for you?"
Shifu looked a bit surprised at the question, perhaps because it was strange to ask for the Palace's gains when the subject were his own. "None of them are any true trouble to the Jade Palace, though I suppose a decision to name you a student would be frowned upon and met with resistance. Making you a guest would be easiest. You in hiding would simply complicate things as explained."
"There is something else isn't there? Something else you want of me."
Shifu sighed before he decided to just get through with it, whatever it was.
"Yes, there is something. Strange events are occurring more often as of late all over China. So far they only happened beyond the valley's borders but this attack on you and Tigress… it doesn't make much sense. A battalion of fifteen trained killers doesn't just appear. They infiltrated in the valley, must have done so days ago to position themselves on a lesser-known path and nearly succeeded in killing you both. I do believe you were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time but this, among many other things don't make sense! The Palace cannot ignore this and the council makes little progress. There is something larger and foul at work here and an unknown enemy is double as dangerous.
Your presence here is something I refuse to believe to be coincidence. You look upon thing with a very unique perspective and this conversation alone has made it abundantly clear that you are very perceptive. You might think of ideas or signs none of us would or you have other ways or instruments… I don't know. I would like your help with this. Since you made their attack fail, it could be important to you as well. But I cannot demand this, or at least, I will not. I won't ask you share knowledge you don't wish to share. I might be disgruntled but I think I must respect it."
"So you want me to help you investigate a series of attacks that have been rising all over the country and search for any alternative options or leads, but I am free to refuse when I wish?"
"Basically? Yes."
"Was this what you thought of when you mentioned being in service here? To assist you like this?"
"Very perceptive indeed. And the thought may have occurred, yes." He confirmed with a rough chuckle.
Alex mulled all this new information over in his head. This was a lot to take in and his decision would be a large turn-wheel in the days to come. But he needed help and nowhere else would it be offered to him like this. Staying in hiding was no longer an option, it was time to get out of his Plato's cave with his blissful shadow of safety and step in the light for better or worse. A student was out of the question. He wouldn't fight and wanted to stay as far away from the military as possible. So what of the other ones…
He kept thinking furiously until he took a leap of faith with a deep and shaky breath.
"I have decided."
Shifu's gaze was waiting for an answer.
"I think the ambassador is the best option for the both of us. It would name me of figure of some importance, while it would keep the Jade Palace even from direct interference over or from me. You would not seem to have given me any unnatural favours that could be held against you because as an ambassador it would be normal for me to stay here. It also would allow me more freedom and not bowing down while any privileges might come from myself, rather than your presence. It would explain my differences of me being a different kind and possess such a different mind and knowledge or culture if I was from a vastly different society, far away from here. That would keep us from the more nasty question how a freak like me could be in China otherwise and they won't start hunting for a hiding society in this country. We wouldn't need to fabricate a past for me.
The only drawback is I would need some lessons or answers ready for the more political questions as an ambassador I suppose. And I could be a foreign help investigating an attack on its ambassador in coalition with the Jade Palace." He finished.
"Ah, wonderful. I do not see anything wrong with it and it would explain your differences quite well indeed. Still it may not be unwise to heed your previous caution. Your very presence is something that upsets every kind of balance there was and I would rather not any unsavoury parties get wind of your existence. Under normal circumstances I would send word for a verifying emissary of the Council, but I will wait with that. If you get hold of a travel home earlier, all is well. If not, the winter feasts and the winter gathering of the council are held in the Valley of Peace and the Jade Palace this year, meaning the entire council would be here. If you are still here by then, it shall be done then."
"I thank you, Grandmaster Shifu" he said a bit over-formal with a small bow once more with his hand over his heart but Shifu made no remark.
"And I thank you, Ambassador Alexander Jenssen, Son of James. Do you have any more questions? If not, Master Tigress shall point you to your room. They should have finished their dinner by now and I shall have a portion brought to your room."
"Actually, there is one more question…"
"What is it?"
"… Where are the toilets?"
"What are toilets?" the old master asked, turning confused when he saw his human guest's horrified expression.
"Students, I have an announcement. As you already know, this is Alexander Jenssen, a human from a different world, also known as Strider. We have agreed that it is in our mutual best interests if he stays in the Palace for a while, until he may find a way home. I will help his search in the archives. He is appointed the title of ambassador of his state as per first contact rule. Crane, I would need you to educate him on the basics he can except concerning politics. Mantis, he has healer experience of a different kind, perhaps you can learn from each other. Po, do not forget your meditation after dinner. Tigress, can you show him his room? It has been prepared. That will be all."
With that Shifu left and it was quiet for a few seconds until the questions were fired at him at a rapid speed. Before he could answer or understand any though, Master tigress blocked his sight and gestured to follow her while she took off, presumably towards the barracks. Alex gave a quick "masters" along with a light bow and followed her.
It was evening already and the sun had sunk behind the mountains. The small trail upwards was getting painted in darker hues of blue while the servants were lighting the lanterns, bright spots of warm orange along the paths. Far below, a part of the valley was dotted with small lights, creating a picturesque and magical world, straight from a movie.
The barracks appeared to be another hall of dark wood on a level base of stone. The chambers appeared to be simplistic but clean and of good quality even though the inner walls would be very thin. In the middle she stopped and pointed.
"This is your room. Do not mess it up."
"I won't. Thank you Master Tigress."
"If I may… why did he order you specifically to bring me here, when this would be more of a servant's job and you don't like me in the first place?"
"You have shown perceptiveness before, so why do you think?"
"You led me here without bombarding me with question as the others would have, you wanted an excuse to retire to your room or your wound requires you to catch rest earlier?"
"Then why do you ask questions if you already know the answer?" she asked rhetorically and irate.
"Curiosity?" "Hmph." She couldn't resist asking something she'd wondered in the morning though.
"What is that actually? The round instrument of metal and glass with the ticking sound around your wrist?"
"A watch. An instrument to indicate the time very accurately due to a complex mechanism. The three 'arms' indicate respectively hours, minutes and seconds."
"Arms? How can your watch have arms?"
"The three little sticks that rotate around the middle and point at the ciphers. They're called arms. It's figure of speech."
She seemed confused by this until she grasped his meaning a few seconds later.
"May I observe your watch for a moment, then? Such a precise instrument to indicate time, let alone so small, is extraordinary! I've never seen its likes before."
He hesitated, looking torn, before sighing and pleading "please be very careful with it. It used to be my father's."
"He gifted it to you? Does the act have a special connotation or meaning?"
"No, it's, you know... It's a piece of him. He wore that thing for over twenty years. It's a little piece of him that I always carry with me since he… never mind. Just treat it carefully please."
Tigress' eyes widened before they softened with that information.
"I should have grasped that information earlier from your hints that make sense now. Forgive me, I didn't mean to remind you of your loss. You keep it, I shall observe it another time."
She didn't really know why she apologised so profoundly when she rarely ever asked for forgiveness, nor why she felt quite horribly with herself. Was it because she was angry at herself for being stupid and not understanding all his earlier hints that she should easily have gotten? Was it because she had wronged him, and she still felt guilty about that? He had shown to be a more interesting person than she had met in a long time, was she trying to prevent losing such an intelligent conversational partner with whom she could discuss things in ways or matters that she couldn't with anyone else? Or was it simply because she once again had misjudged him, and he had had a harder life than she anticipated of his easy attitude? She didn't know.
"Don't be. You couldn't have known and it wasn't relevant." He brushed it off. "How is your wound? The morphine should be gone now, doesn't it hurt too much?"
"The numbing effect is indeed gone, but the wound is better than expected. The poisonous effects are all but gone and the wound itself is not too terrible, it was checked upon by a healer before dinner. I advise you to not to delay your rest. We wake early and while not a student, Master Shifu will undoubtedly wake you as well and you lost sleep last night."
"Right. Good evening Master Tigress."
She merely nodded in return and left him to his devices.
He sat on his new bed and looked longingly at his diary in his hands, contemplating whether he should write tonight or not. With a sigh, he decided to follow the cat's advice and put it back, just laid down on his bed and closed his tired eyes.
Twenty-three seconds later he was asleep.
Author's notes :
Damn, this chapter was tricky to write. I just couldn't get into it for some reason, and every time I wrote a few lines I was like "Nah, that's not right", thus it took so long. Feels bad, especially since I knew what the chapter had to be about. So a semi-writer's block? No idea.
I'm sorry updates sometimes take so long, but the chapters are equally long too and I don't post something until it's finished and I'm satisfied with it. Quality over quantity and all that. It won't really change.
Next update won't be a new chapter, but will be a rewritten version of the first chapter. Looking back, it's really bad compared to the rest, and some things are unexplained, don't match up etc. Don't worry, I'll write the next chapters too now that the story is finally taking a real shape. Time to reveal some traces of the antagonist perhaps?
Again, thank you for reading, and please leave a review.