Chapter 25: Epilogue (A Wolf Always Keeps His Promises).
"Are we almost there Chang?", Lee asked.
"Come on, Lee, you didn't complain when we were walking up the stairs. Why are you so whiny now?", Chang griped.
"I'm bored, we've been walking around these rooms for ages. I can't believe the group left us", Lee answered.
"That's because we had to stop and wait for you to catch your breath on the stairs", Chang reminded the rabbit, a bit crossly.
"Well I can't help it if Master Shifu was obsessed with stairs. Seriously, as if there weren't enough stairs already at Jade Palace, why did he have to build the museum so high up as well?", Lee complained to his wolf friend.
Chang chuckled, much to Lee's annoyance. "Look, I'm sure it's only a matter of time until we reach grandpa's exhibit. There's artifacts and antiques from all the kung fu warriors in history, so there's bound to be a bunch of stuff in here", Chang figured, as the wolf and his friend walked past the blades of the twin weasels.
Chang, every once in a while, glanced back at his friend to make sure he was still behind him, he didn't want to accidentally leave the slower animal behind. He knew what a strange pair they must have looked like, the wolf and the rabbit, best friends - partners in crime. And even he acknowledged that their friendship was kinda weird. But it helped knowing that their friendship wasn't the first of it's kind. Lee was a friend of Chang's family. His grandfather had been best friends with Chang's grandfather when they were their age. And the third generation was just as inseparable as the first. History seemed to have a strange way of repeating itself.
"Yeah, well, I'm starting to wonder if coming here was worth the trouble", Lee grumbled.
Chang chuckled again and slowed his pace ever so slightly so his tired buddy could keep up. "You could always ride on my shoulder?", Chang suggested.
"No way. Just because grandpa Fang used to let Erdan carry him around all the time doesn't mean I'm going to let you do it. That would be really embarrassing", Lee insisted.
"Suit yourself", Chang replied, shrugging.
The reason they had come to the museum was because Chang had wanted to prove a point to his friend. Ever since the preteen was a young boy, he had been told stories about his grandfather's heroics. He had learned all about Erdan, the son of a soldier and a shopkeeper. The wolf cub who grew up to become the leader of the next Furious Five. The man responsible for restoring his people's good name, and making it possible for wolves to return to China. Erdan, his grandfather. The man who had proved that anything was possible.
Of course, his friend Lee had been very skeptical of the stories, no matter how much proof Chang presented him with. He had been more interested in the role his grandfather, Fang, had played in Erdan's destiny. How the little rabbit had grown from being a village troublemaker to a noble warrior. How he went from being Erdan's best friend to the wolf's most trusted comrade in battle.
And so, the rabbit doubted the accuracy of the stories, claiming they were only tall tales, and that Erdan's adventures had been widely overblown over the years. So to settle the debate once and for all, Change had suggested that they take a trip to the Valley's museum, so he could see the proof for himself. And after begging their parents to let them go for weeks, they had finally caved in. Now it was simply a matter of finding the right room.
After hanging his head down in boredom for several minutes, as the rabbit and his friend passed by exhibit after exhibit, Lee's face lit up. "There it is!", the little bunny shouted. Sure enough, they could see several pedestals up ahead that held a variety of items, all of them looked familiar. And the reason they looked familiar was because Chang and Lee had seem them all before, in the fifty year old portraits that hung in both of their houses.
Unsurprisingly, Chang reached the stands first, taking long, brisk strides. The first thing he noticed was a small piece of red fabric that was placed in the center of the exhibit. "Grandpa's old bandanna", the wolf cub whispered. Even though it was decades old, the neckerchief was still in pretty good shape, with only a few signs of the wear and tear it had received on it's owner's missions.
Chang glanced over at the next pedestal and found something even more amazing. "Grandpa's bow", he said. Behind him, Lee had managed to catch up with his friend, but Chang ignored him, focusing more on the family heirloom that was on display. "Do you know how many bad guys he took down with this thing?", Chang asked, practically gushing.
"Please, his adventures weren't that great", Lee scoffed.
"Are you kidding? On his first winter feast alone, he and his friends rode out an avalanche and took down a whole army of bison", Chang exclaimed, before diverting his attention to another piece of red fabric that sat nearby, this one under lock and key.
Chang didn't need to read the name tag to guess what it was. The fabric itself was enough of a clue. There was none like it in all of China. Possibly the world. Because it wasn't from that world. It was from an entirely different universe. Or a parallel world as the man who owned it used to say. Chang's grandfather had received the material as a thank you present, for helping it's owner.
"The Doctor's bowtie", Chang thought, his breath taken away for a moment. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and grab the bowtie in his hands. He wanted to know what the alien fabric felt like. But unfortunately, an inch of glass stood in his way, and perhaps it was for the best. After all, it was an antique.
"What about Fang, huh? If it wasn't for my grandpa, Erdan would have gotten his butt kicked dozens of times. But does history remember him? No", Lee ranted, unaware that his friend had stopped listening to him a while ago.
"Relax, Lee", a third voice placated him.
Erdan and Lee whirled around, thoroughly spooked, but breathed a sigh of relief once they realized their chaperone had finally joined them.
"There's a piece here dedicated to Fang too. You didn't really think I'd let them leave out my best friend when they made this exhibit, did you?", the man said reassuringly.
"Grandpa! You made it", Chang noted, grinning.
"Of course. Just because I'm old now doesn't mean I can't climb up a flight of stairs. After all, that never stopped Yeung and Gow", Erdan mused, the old wolf sharing his grandson's grin.
Chang and Lee had begged their parents for weeks to let them go to the museum. But they had always said no, insisting that the boys were still too young to be walking around alone (even though their grandparents had done far riskier things when they were their age). Eventually, the wolf and the rabbit were able to convince them by suggesting that Chang's grandfather come with them. After all, there was no safer guardian than a retired kung fu master, was there?
Besides, having Erdan, a living legend, come with them to his own exhibit just felt right. He would be able to explain certain things about his stories to them that didn't make sense, and Chang hoped he would have a good time reliving some of his old adventures.
They had started climbing the stairs to the museum with a very quick, eager pace when Erdan had started to lag behind, his cane slowing him down. Though Chang was perfectly fine with waiting for him, his grandfather had insisted that the two boys go ahead of him and that he'd catch up with them later.
"I see you've found my bandanna", the sixty-five year old wolf noted, gazing at the neckerchief that held so many memories.
"And the bowtie the madman with a box gave you", Chang added. "What was the spaceman really like grandpa?", the wolf cub asked, bursting with questions.
Erdan grinned and leaned against his cane. "Well, he was a load of laughs. For a spaceman, he was a real joker. But he was still every bit the hero Oogway's stories said he was. Even if his companions were a bit stiff around me for some reason", Erdan recounted, musing towards the end.
While Chang seemed to be overtly excited, Lee only rolled his eyes. "Come on. Spacemen? Life among the distant stars? All that stuff can't be real", the rabbit insisted, skeptical to a fault.
"I See You, Silence" by Murray Gold begins.
"That's what Fang thought too, and my old dad. But the universe is a big place. Filled with humans, and aliens, and time lords alike. Who knows? Maybe the Doctor and his magic blue box will return to the Valley someday. He did say he likes to keep in touch with his friends", Erdan said, sighing fondly at the memories. He could still remember the first time he saw the inside of the TARDIS. The ship that was bigger on the inside. The best ship in the universe.
"What about your first Winter Festival? Did you really help Po and the Five fight Temutai?", Chang probed.
"Yep. The warriors of Qidan were a particularly strong fighting force, much more persistent than Fung and the croc bandits I had faced on my first mission. For a moment, I thought we might actually lose. But we didn't and we got back just in time for the holidays", Erdan recalled, smiling.
"What about the avalanche? Did that actually happen?", Chang asked.
Behind him, Lee gave his eyes another good roll. "Like he'd actually tell you if it didn't", the rabbit reckoned.
"Oh, it happened. That's the kind of thing you don't ever forget", Erdan promised, the retired warrior's grin growing even wider.
Erdan could remember his first Winter Festival like it was yesterday. Because like he said, he would always remember the events of that night. The boy, his father and his friends had ran breathlessly through the bamboo forest, Temutai's warriors hot on their trail. He had ordered his friends to grab onto whatever tree branch they could find and to not let go for anything. He had clutched his own branch until his paws practically bled, while yelling at his father to run, as millions of pounds of snow crashed down from the mountains, burying the entire forest. He and his friends charged into the melee; the boy shooting arrows in all directions, covering his own back while helping his teammates in whatever way he could. And while he did that, he angrily scolded his father for being so reckless, risking his own life to help the cub. In those days, life and death struggles were nearly everyday life for the boy. But looking back on it all, he still couldn't believe the times he had had. All the dreams that had came true.
"Grandpa?", Chang asked, snapping Erdan out of his memories of a crazy, adventurous life, long gone now.
"Huh?", the old wolf asked, blinking.
"I was asking you if you remembered this painting", Chang explained, pointing to an old canvas hanging on the wall.
Erdan squinted his eyes for a moment, staring at the paper, until he finally recognized it. "Oh, that was painted around the time I was sixteen", Erdan replied.
"Really? When?", Chang asked, he and Lee walking towards his grandpa's side to get a closer look at the painting.
"On my birthday. And if I remember right, it was only a few months before I met Lord Shen, the would-be ruler of Gongmen City", Erdan replied, grinning fondly as he remembered his greatest adventure ever. The day he met his father's old master was the same day he fought side-by-side with the Dragon Warrior, and helped the panda save the Valley of Peace. That was the day he truly became a kung fu master.
"Doctor Who: Series Four Closing Credits" by Murray Gold begins.
Author's Note:
And so the return of the Doctor Who theme song signals that "Erdan 2" has officially come to an end. But just because this fic is over doesn't mean that Erdan's story is. To the contrary, as you might have guessed from this last chapter, the wolf cub's adventures have only just begun. "Erdan 2" is the first of several stories centered around Erdan, and now that I've got most of the character development sorted out in this one, I can really go places with the boy and his friends.
After all, the fact that he has a grandson in the future means that someday he'll finally meet that special lady he's been waiting for, and that idea alone warrants it's own story. Not to mention, Erdan still hasn't found his parents' killer and brought him to justice yet. And I seem to remember promising you a Doctor Who crossover as well. Erdan and his friends will return in December, in "The Winter Festival", my very first Christmas fic (which will mercifully be shorter than this one). And as for that teaser about Erdan meeting Lord Shen, don't get too excited about that. That story won't be written for at least another two years (this is the start of a very long game).
For now, the only thing that remains of this fic is the acknowledgments section. I know the dedication part of books might seem a bit boring to some of you, but I'm telling you now that reading it will be well worth your time. Because I had plenty of people to thank for helping me with this fic. So Animation Universe, Wolflover111, TheDrawerProductions, Scruff the Rat, Joe 'Po' Navark, and the rest of your guys reading this (you know who you are), take a look (you'll like what you find).
P.S. The museum that Chang and Lee visit is the same museum that Po, Tigress, and Mantis break into in "Secret of the Masters".