Author's Note: Bit of a warning for Tai Lung fans: you're probably not going to like him very much in this story. Remember that as far as he's concerned, he IS the Dragon Warrior, so I imagine that would make him quite snobby and arrogant towards anyone training with him, especially as a cub.
Also, let me know what you think of Oogway. I find him a pretty difficult character to write, so I'd like to know if I'm doing a decent job.
Chapter 12: The First Day
Master Shifu stood in the student barracks, patiently waiting for the morning gong to ring. It was the same thing he had done every morning since he had adopted Tai Lung. Only there was one big difference this time. Tai Lung was no longer alone.
The gong sounded through the Jade Palace, and a second later, Tai Lung was out of his room and standing in the hallway, eyes straight ahead and paws clasped behind his back. "Good morning, Master." he greeted. Shifu nodded in acknowledgment and waited to see if three more figures would come out of their rooms. They did not.
Tai Lung smirked. "Looks like the ladies haven't learned the morning protocol yet." Shifu stared at the three rooms, wondering if he should go wake them up. As Master Oogway had pointed out, they were technically not his responsibility.
Come to think of it, where was Master Oogway?
He didn't get to ponder either of these questions for very long as Tai Lung walked up to one of the rooms and pulled it open. "Wakey wakey," he said mockingly. Shifu was about to reprimand him again when he saw the confused look on the snow leopard's face. Shifu peered over his shoulder and saw that the room was completely empty. Odd, he could've sworn one of them was supposed to be sleeping here. He went to the adjacent room and opened it. Also empty. What was going on here?
A loud giggle from the dining area caught their attention. Master and student rushed into the room and found the Wu Sisters casually enjoying a breakfast of steamed buns and tea. Wan was the first to notice them. "Oh, good morning!" Shifu was able to keep the shock off of his face.
Tai Lung was not."What...but...how?!"
Wing shrugged. "We've been getting up an hour earlier than this for a while now. We got used to it." She said this like it was no big deal, but was clearly enjoying taunting him. Tai Lung walked over and sat on the other end of the table for his own breakfast, pouting all the while. He hated to be one-upped in anything, even something as trivial as getting up early.
Shifu took this time to get another look at Oogway's new students. During his brief meeting with them last night, he had gotten an idea of what they were like, but not much. The youngest sister was perky and cheerful while the middle sister was spiteful and had a violent temper. That much he could see even today. But it was the eldest sister that really perplexed him. She was a total enigma, barely showing a hint of emotion as she calmly ate her breakfast. He couldn't read her at all and that unnerved him greatly. The creepy eyes didn't help.
"I see you've all made it," Oogway said from behind, startling him. He was always amazed that his master could still sneak up on him after all these years. "Surprised to see that the girls are so punctual, Shifu?"
Shifu looked back over at the table, where Wing and Tai Lung had started some kind of eating contest. "You could say that."
He resisted the urge to question his master on how he was going to train the sisters, having already questioned him too much for his liking, but he was definitely curious. One thing was for certain, these weren't ordinary students.
After breakfast, Master Oogway called the sisters out to a small courtyard to begin their training. The courtyard was set up like an arena and filled with various weapon racks, making them very excited to begin their training.
Unfortunately for them, Oogway had other ideas.
The first hour was spent on mediation. Oogway sat in a lotus position on the floor with the sisters doing the same across from him. They were instructed to "clear their minds" and "reflect upon themselves", concepts that Su barely understood, let alone the other two. Most of the time was spent just figuring how to breathe correctly.
Next, Oogway started leading them through a series of long and very slow movements. The tortoise called it "tai chi", but they didn't really care what it was called. After doing it for another two hours, they just wanted it to stop.
Then they started practicing kung fu forms. At this point, they felt like Oogway was just mocking them.
"Is all of this really necessary?" Wing finally asked, struggling to keep her temper in check.
"Of course," Oogway replied, in the middle of a tiger stance. "You can't build a castle without laying the foundation."
"What?"
"He means that we can't learn kung fu until we are prepared to handle it," Su translated.
"We're totally prepared!" Wing argued. "We've had plenty of experience fending for ourselves already. I think it's about time we learned how to fight!"
Su frowned. Unlike Wing, she could see the value in these exercises, but she stopped herself from arguing the point. She didn't want her sisters growing any more distant from her.
"Very well," Oogway said, surprising them. "If you think you are ready, then I will give you the chance to prove it. Follow me." Oogway started walking away and the sisters followed after him, uneasy.
Oogway brought them back into the training hall, making sure that they would not overlap with Shifu and Tai Lung's training schedule again. The sisters feared that he was going to punish them for their insolence by putting them on the obstacle course, but he assured them that that was not the case.
Instead, he pulled out a large training dummy. It was designed to resemble a bandit, with a big, goofy smile painted onto its face. "This is the Adversary," he explained. "It is the first challenge any student of the Jade Palace must face. I want each of you to come up and demonstrate your ability by hitting the Adversary."
Wing took one look at the dummy and burst out laughing. "You're joking, right?"
Oogway smiled. "If you think it is so simple, then you may go first."
"No problem." Wing cracked her knuckles and stepped up to face the Adversary. She took a deep breath, brought her fist back, and punched the dummy right in the jaw. It swung way back from the force of the blow.
"Gotcha!"
Then it swung forward again and nailed her in the face.
Oogway looked down at Wing, clutching her sore nose, and chuckled. "It was a powerful blow, that much is certain."
Su went up next, aiming to learn from Wing's mistake. Clearly, there was more to this than they thought. The Adversary was like any living opponent; getting the best of it wasn't just a matter of strength. Su spent a while just looking the dummy up and down until she finally decided on a plan of attack. Leaning back, she brought her leg up and kicked the Adversary in what passed as its chin. The blow was not as strong as Wing's, but was much more effective, knocking the dummy a good two feet back.
"I see Su has figured it out," Oogway nodded.
"May I try again?" asked Wing. "I think I got it this time."
"Does the young chick have only one chance to break out of its shell?"
"...What?"
"Yes, you may try again."
Wing walked up to the Adversary and pulled her fist back once more. She gave a loud growl and threw the punch, this time at the dummy's midsection. It flew back several feet, far surpassing Su's distance. She dragged the Adversary back into position, shooting a "thanks" to Su as she did so. Though she turned away before she could see it, there was a small smile on her sister's face.
Wan gulped, realizing that she was up next. She didn't have Wing's strength or Su's smarts. How was she supposed to replicate what they had done? She couldn't.
She was staring down the Adversary nervously when an idea came to her. If she couldn't do it the same way, then she would just have to do it a different way.
Wan faced the Adversary and slowly started stepping away from it. Both her sisters and Oogway watched her curiously, wondering what she was up to. Wan stopped just before she reached the wall and charged forward. Picking up momentum as she drew closer, she managed to pull off a flying kick and struck the Adversary in its chest. It skidded to a stop just short of Wing's distance.
"Good work, all of you," Oogway praised as the sisters cheered for each others' success. Their attacks were flawed and unrefined, though still impressive for ones without formal training, but that was not the point of this exercise. The point was to confirm what he suspected about the sisters' individual strengths. Wing was the strongest, Wan was the swiftest, and Su was the most tactical. The combination of these skills could make them a real force to be reckoned with once they learned how to fight as one.
There was just one more test he needed to try first. "Now, I want all of you to attack the Adversary together." All three sisters stared at him in confusion.
"You mean like...at the same time?" Wan asked.
Oogway shook his head. "Not quite. Pretend that it is a real enemy and combine your strengths to 'defeat' it." The sisters seemed to understand and spread themselves out around the Adversary, surrounding it from three sides.
Su looked around at her sisters as they faced the Adversary. "Alright, Wing will attack first, and we'll pass it around to each other in a circle." This was just like one of their heists, only with a different goal in mind. It would be easy.
...Right?
A few months ago, she would have had no doubts, but it had been a good while since they had last done a heist together. And this was before...that night.
Wing made the first attack on the Adversary, hitting it with a punch that sent the dummy towards Su. She called out to Wan and kicked it to her, hoping to continue the cycle.
The plan went wrong almost immediately.
Wan, still nervous around her older sister, hesitated for just a second too long. The dummy plowed right into her and knocked her to the ground. Wing rushed over to help her, not seeing the dummy swing back in her direction until it was too late, and she too was knocked over. Su, irrationally angered by an inanimate object, attempted to repeat her earlier success and kicked the Adversary in the chin. In her haste, however, she got the angle slightly wrong and the dummy flew straight up into the air. Her momentum carried her forward and it came back down right on top of her.
And thus, the Wu Sisters had been defeated by a training dummy.
Oogway sighed and brought a clawed hand up to his face. This wasn't normal, that much he could tell. Whatever this rift was that had formed between the sisters, it was clearly going to be a severe detriment to their training.
Before anything else, it needed to be resolved.
