Chapter 10 : The Repetitive Situation
It's been five weeks since I've been living in the Jade Palace, training hard as ever and getting along with the my friends, except Tigress who kept glaring at me all the time, what did I do wrong? Well I'll just depend on fate for what's gonna happen next between me and her. My skills seemed to be slowly improving due to the insane training I've been receiving daily. Today was Saturday, which that means we all got a day off, but for Monday, man I just really really REALLY hate Monday, alright enough complaining. So me, Po, Monkey and Mantis right now are the only one who are sitting on chair as we faces table at the kitchen, we were having a conversation about how they've all become masters and Po's story was simply incredible, he just defeated this guy named Tai Lung, who is apparently the adopted son and the first student of Master Shifu, but unfortunately, he became evil due to not been selected by Oogway is the tortoise had sensed darkness in his heart. Enraged by Oogway's disapproval, he flees from the Jade Palace, returned and almost destroyed the Valley Of Peace as he's going to take the Dragon Scroll by force, but eventually, the dangerous snow leopard got defeated by the Grand Master Oogway himself and got send to Chorh-Gom Prison for twenty years, he soon escaped and going for the Dragon Scroll again. They said that only the Dragon Warrior would be worthy enough to read the Dragon Scroll, it also said that the scroll contain the secrets to "limitless power". The Dragin Scroll has rested for nearly a thousand years at the back of the Hall Of Warriors just above the Moon Pool in the mouth of a golden dragon statue, until Po, who became the Dragon Warrior and earned the scroll as he said at first, that the scroll is completely blank in word, only a golden colored reflection of yourself, I was quite confused about it being blank until Po revealed that the secret meaning of what the scroll is trying to tell him is to "believe in yourself".
"That's some crazy stories guys." I spoke in absolute amazement. I then lifted my lazy ass off the chair.
"Where you going Lukas?" Po inquired.
"I'm gonna go do some walking down at the village, you know? Still need to do some exercise at weekends you know." I replied as I stretched my arms and legs, preparing to endure as I'm gonna descend down from the stairs of a thousand steps.
"We'll see you later Lukas, also try not to trip off on the stairs." Mantis wished me good luck in a mocking way. I gave him a smirk before exiting the Kitchen and head to the exit door of the Hall Of Warriors. I am now descending down from the thousand steps down of the tall moutain as the cold wind bashing through his face. His stomach then growls like an dragon for second there.
"Maybe grabbing something to bite might give me an idea for what to do today." I thought. I could now see the village more clearer now. I was heading to Mr. Ping noodle shop for some breakfast to eat. After I descended down to the village from the forever-lasting staircase, all eyes are set me as I was walking the road, before they were scared of me due to my "abnormal" appearance causes quite a big misunderstandings, but now, it's completely the opposite, I was now been greeted by warm smiles and kind words. A group of kids are running towards me with an excited expression.
"Oh! It's the "Great Lukas"! Oh my gosh it's really you!" A tiny sheep spoke fanboyishly.
"Please can we have your autograph!" A tiny pig pleaded.
"PLEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAASSSSEEEEEEEE!" A tiny gray duckling pleaded.
"Woah! Woah! Easy there kids, and please drop the word "master" would ya?" I sheepishly said. They were all covered up my feet and how could I say "no" to this little cute guys here. I agreed on giving them an autograph by saying "Sure". The tiny sheep hand me an wooden-made helmet, the tiny pig hand me an wooden-made sword and the tiny duckling hand me an wooden-made shield, I then took out my ink brush and write my name and an additional kanji ( 力 ) about "strong" for their wooden-made "toys".
"Thank you Maste- uhhh we mean Lukas!" They said in a union while running back to their home.
I kinda felt proud and being honored somehow, but I don't really care about being honored, praised or whatever! I only care for the happiness of this village. I then finally made my way to Mr. Ping's noodle restaurant and I saw Po and his father working together, Po was boiling and serving the food while Mr. Ping is chopping some vegetables at sonic speed. I then waited for the place to be less crowned and I made my way in. Damm... this divine smell will never get old!
"Why hello there Lukas." Mr. Ping kindly greeted. He was now ceased his intense chopping session while he saw my presence.
"Hi there Mr. Ping, sup Po." I greeted those two. My stomach then starts growls again, Mr. Ping lets out an light laugh as he knew that I'm hungry. "
"I guess your hungry for some noodle today, what can I get you for today?" Mr. Ping asked.
"Hmm... something light and healthy, like an breakfast noodle." I said. It's kinda strange that in this world they even have noodle for breakfast.
"Aha! So your order will be on the Breakfast Soup?" He guessed.
"Sounds interesting, yeah... I would have the Breakfast Soup."
"Po! One Breakfast Soup!" He stated loudly.
"I'm on it dad!" He replied.
Mr. Ping then starting grabbing some bunch of vegetables and beginning his sonic speed chopping session while Po beginning to boiling the water and adding some chopped vegetables to the cooking clay pot. As I kept waiting for the noodle at the seat. I suddenly heard some screamed "Help!" Not so far away, quickly stood up from the seat.
"Would you guys do me a favor by finishing the noodle and store it later for me please." I asked.
"Of course we can." Mr. Ping said. His son Po then rushed to out of the counter towards me.
"Lukas! What happened!" He asked. His face was calm before and now replaced by an worried one.
"Someone in trouble." I said calmly while containing the nervousness inside me.
"Lets go Lukas!" Po said. We both then storm off the restaurant and head to the area where I heard the scream.
"Be carefully boys." Mr. Ping said. We both stopped and turned around, I gave him an smiled at .
"Don't worry about us, we'll be just fine." I assured. After that we both run with fast speed to the place. After running to corridor and corridor of the street and finally reached the area. "What the fuck?! Why in the hell these are coyotes here again, oh well... let's just kick their fury asses and move on with this." I thought. We both saw the coyotes are robbing another store and they seemed be wearing the same armor as before and well equipped with weapons, they mostly are equipped with swords, axes and spears, one of them are equipped with an crossbow... damm son where did'cha get dat byoi. Me and Po quickly split up and while flanking the group. One of the dual wielding swordsman are literally trying to cut me into pieces, but I kept dodging it and sucker-punched him in the snout while knocking him clean out. Po was then dealing with an axeman that was 1 feet taller than him. The axeman was swinging his giant battle axe around Po, each time when his axe misses Po, it left an long thin crackled line in the ground. When his axe was stuck in the ground, Po immediately running at him and knocked him back at an incredible distance with his belly. After we finished the rest, we both then give each other an high five, "Yeah!" Me and Po exclaimed at an union. We then saw some guards coming at us, I then saw an smaller one, he looks like an cheetah wearing the same armor like the other rhino guards were wearing, but his shoulder plates seems to have gold surrounding it, leaving the silver spot on the middle and his leggings pad as well. His fur is kinda darker, resembling as the color of dark-orange, and some black spots on him, with those gold marks around him, I believe he is the captain or something.
"Greetings, I see you both have given them an education of pain." The cheetah said. He then ordered the rhino to handcuffed the coyotes and taking them away.
"Yup, hope they'll remember this lesson, if we hit them hard enough, maybe they will remember it forever." I joked which made Po chuckled.
"Good one man!" He said while laughing lightly. Yun then clear his throat before speaking.
"Oh my deepest apology Master Lu-" I stopped his sentence by raising one of my hand.
"Please drop the master and one more thing... I'm not even a master! Just a new student and new here" I politely explained.
"Interesting... oh by the way, the name's Yun, it's an pleasure to meet the new student and especially the Dragon Warrior for the first time." Yun said. By the expression on his face, I could easily tell that he is excited to see Po.
"So your the captain of the guard post?" Po asked. He then let out an short laugh.
"Oh don't be silly, I'm the captain of "this" guard post, there's more captains like me out there." He said.
"How's your job here by the way?" I asked.
"Very great, love this job, well... not too bad, but the most annoying and worst part of this job is that it's always the same guys over and over again." He said annoyed.
"Don't you think this is... well... suspicious?" I asked.
"Yeah, the last few weeks, these same coyotes wearing the same clothing and armor kept coming to the Valley." Po added. We then looked at the handcuffed coyotes and Yun seems to have an idea.
"We could start interrogation on our "guests" here soon as we head back to our barrack." Yun said with a smile of an painful idea.
"Sounds great then. Oh shit, I almost forget my noodle!" I said loudly as I remembered. "Well it's been nice knowing you, see ya!" I said while running back to the noodle restaurant. Me and Po finally reached the restaurant counter.
"Oh your back Lukas!" Mr. Ping said in relief. He then handed me the Breakfast Soup to me and its still warm. I sat down on the nearest seat and eating this delightful breakfast meal. After I finished eating the Breakfast Soup, Mr. Ping was shocked at how fast I finished it.
"W-Wow... I uhh... never thought your an quick one, almost as fast as my son." He said sheepishly.
"Wow! Hey Lukas! Wanna have a challenge that who can eat the fastest!" Po said.
"Umm... sorry Po, but I'm not really into those kind of games ya know." I sheepishly denied. Po does an "aww" sound, but he happily canceled the game.
"How the Breakfast Soup Lukas?" asked, he was eager to hear my review.
"Very good, fresh, healthy and most importantly TASTY!" I said, the soup tasted like holy water!
"That's very wonderful!" Mr. Ping said.
"Well it's time to get back to Jade Palace and practice my skills, good luck with the businesses Po." I said, I then got up from my chair, paid for the noodle and start walking like hell. As I'm walking to the Jade Palace, I could see the top of the mountains around the valley, the cold fresh air blowing through my face. You know what? I'm actually getting the hang of this endless walk, plus the wind is cold, so I can sweat less and smell less like shit. After reaching the palace, i walked through the Hall Of Warrior and say hello to Master Shifu and meet the guys at the Kitchen. I then head to the Peach Tree Hill, I am now on top of the hill, what a amazing view. I did some sits-ups and some push-ups while changing hands of each times I lift my body. After 26 minutes of sits-ups and push-ups, I sat down with my legs crossed as I mediate. As my mind is body are now calm, I can now practice on how to throw Hadoken with one hand in peace and quiet. I stood up and widens stance, I'm now moving my arms around in circle while bright blue sparks are forming around my hands, after the ball was formed on my both palms, I let loose of my left hand. As soon as I let go of my left hand, my right arms felt incredibly heavy indeed as I expected, the ball was glowing very unstable, "Dammit... I gotta throw this out my hand!" I thought. I was struggling to releasing the blast. "HHHAAAAA!" I yelled while the blast finally shoots out of my right hand. My body then went numb for a moment and fell down the ground while panting for air. "Worth it." I said to myself. After 9 minute of catching some few breaths as I stood up. "I gotta hurry up, its getting dark out here." I said. The sky was now dark orange, I ceased my walking and stare at the beautiful sunset. After admiring the view, I quickly snap back to reality and proceed the kitchens. I was thinking about asking Shifu who is Oogway anyway? How did he become the Grand Master of the Jade Palace? How many people did he trained? Well... I'll maybe asked him after dinner. As I made my way to the Hall Of Warrior and approaching the Ki then from the Students Barrack's hallway, the sounds of conversation are slowly getting clearer. I then opened the slide door of the kitchen, everyone welcomed me with an kind word and Viper welcomed with warm smile instead. And I saw Shifu has joined us for dinner, that's.. uhh... kinda strange, like Shifu is all serious and stuff, but man I couldn't believe he would join us for dinner. "Sup guys, whats for dinner?" I asked.
"Rice and Tofu." Viper said while grabbing a piece of rice with chopsticks and put it in her mouth.
"Yours over here Lukas." Po assured. He caught my attention by waving his arm up. "Thanks I replaced back. I then took a seat with Po on my left and Monkey on my right.
"So how was your day?" Mantis asked. I then trying to think of something to said.
"Good, I go to Po's dad restaurant at morning, dealing with some same bandits and some exercise till now." I said.
"You've been working very hard Lukas, even at weekends, I'm impressed." Crane complimented. After few minutes of eating in silence, I finally got the courage to ask Shifu about his master.
"Hey master, I got something meaning to ask you." I said.
"What is on your mind Lukas." Shifu said.
"Well umm... I kinda heard that you have a... master, may you tell us how you both met together." He was a bit shocked for what I've said, he but managed to remain calm.
"Very well, *clear throat" when I just a child, I was left by my father. I waited days for him to return, but he didn't, and Oogway take me into Jade Palace. He teaches me everything he knows and I passed his lesson on the next generation. We've been together for more than 50 years... until last year, he's not here anymore." He said in a saddened tone. I feel guilty for bringing that up.
"I'm sorry for your lost, if I had bring any bad memories back, please don't talk about it anymore." I assured.
"Alright... if you say so." Shifu was now more calm now.
"So why did you join us for dinner master?" Po asked.
"There's something very important I want to tell you all." Shifu said.
"Okay what is it?" Monkey curiously said.
"Remember the last 5 weeks there been some robberies." Shifu said.
"Yeah... and it's the same guys over and over again." Viper added.
"It's those coyotes, I... I saw them before." I said. Everyone eyes been set eyes on me and eager to hear.
"Really? Where?!" Po said rising from his chair.
"Before I was accepted to this place, I've stumbled on one of their base and I swear I saw their leader and heard his name." I said.
"How convenience, we already have a guy who knows a little of these bastards." Mantis said sarcastically.
"Who are they Lukas?" Shifu asked.
"Most of them are coyotes, the base I saw before was in a snow biome and the others one are just recruits from Chorh-Gom Prison." I said.
"So that's why there's been these serious explosions going on at Chorh-Gom Prison recently." Crane said with an puzzling manner.
"What about their leader's name." Shifu asked.
"Tang Kuan..." I said. Everyone's eyes are widens as that name was been spoken.
"No... but how?!" Shifu said in disbelief.
"What is it master?! Do you know him?" I asked.
"Tang Kuan, a man who strikes fear and terror in everyone's heart and soul." Shifu said.
"But who is he? Do you know him before." I asked. Shifu took an deep breath before shedding some answers for me.
"Thirty-six years ago... Tang Kuan was one of Master Oogway's star pupils before I was a master... Tang Kuan later had succumbed to evil at a very young age and soon became the leader of a very powerful rebellious militant, his goal is to conquer and seize control over China and killing the Emperor will make a tremendous step towards his goal. I was part of the previous generation of the Furious Five before. Me and my team were assigned to bring down his evil schemes. I've fought him a long time ago, it even felt like it's only been yesterday." He said in a feared tone with his head lowered.
"But how did you and you team managed to defeat him and his army?" I curiously asked. He then shift his gaze back to me.
"The moment we finished his army off, me and my team went inside a tall tower and found him waiting for us, he was all alone up there. We then engaged him on combat, but he was also very persistent, he won't give up that easily, until we overpowered and surrounded him, he jumped and fell down from the very top of the tall tower. Everyone was considered him dead... until now." Shifu said with a hushed tone.
"Don't worry, I believe these bandits that me and Po has taken care off must have some good connections with Tang Kuan or even working for him. I believe the authorities will take them on interrogation, hopefully they'll get some good information out of them." I assured.
"That's good to hear." Monkey said in relief.
"Well it's getting late, let's go see what Yun got in stored for us the next day." I said. I let out an big yawn as I stood up from the chair and start walking back to my room.
"Who the hell is Yun?" Monkey asked. I then stopped walking and being silent for a moment as waiting for the "dramatic" effects to kick in.
"Someone interesting you all wanna meet tomorrow." I replied back. I then head back to my room and removing my clothing except my shirts. I was lying on my bed while many thought are wondering around my mind. Alright, today has been a very, VERY surprising, Shifu and his old team had fought this "Tang Kuan" guy before and having real trouble dealing with him, since Shifu said he is was very "persistent" indeed. Guess fighting this guy will be sure a real pain in the ass. There is no guarantee that tomorrow is gonna be pretty interesting indeed.
( Haha! I'm back from almost 2 months I guess... anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and don't worry, I've already planned a crap load of ideas and stuff for the "future" chapters ;P