I made another cool anime-like intro thingie!
(...Bored silence...cricket-chirping sounds...)
Don't give me that! It's my thing, even if I'm not totally the best at it! Besides, it's just a very small portion of the chapter. So relax. Not trying to be forceful, honest. Just...sayin'...
This is also the time that my OC's begin to get more active without overtaking the rest of the cast that actually exist. I'm doing my best to balance it, honest.
Song: Fukagyaku Replace. The one minute, thirty seconds one.
IMO...it's pretty awesome. But so is the full version, truly.
Let's go.
(Intro Scene)
Smoke clouded his vision, the sounds of canons filled the air, and he could feel the pain mercilessly wracking every part of his body. But he refused to give in, far from it. Po managed to reached out with effort to reach his hat, then slowly stand back up, covered in soot and his own blood. Yet he stands up, his eyes still being as determined as ever. He adjusted his scarf, placed his hat on his head, and rushed forward to rejoin his friends in battle for the burning city...
The smoke and fire flows slowly upwards, into the air. After a moment, it begins to take a peculiar shape, both smoke and fire coming together. They come together and form, with smoke as the background and the flames spell out:
"Tales Of China..."
Po is bounding forward with his paws behind his neck as his hat shaded him from the sun, and he smiled cheerfully with his scarf dancing with the wind, though. Tigress moved alongside him, her own scarf dancing with the wind. Her smile was less cheery than his, but was just as genuine.
Tai Lung's cloak covered most of his upper body, including his face. But his tail and pants we're visible, as well as the fierce look in his eyes, looking determined to find something. Finally Shen, was moving through the Tower of Sacred Flame, calmly walking by his army of komodo dragons, gorillas, wolves, and crocodiles, as well as the forced assistance of Masters Rhino, Ox, and Croc...
Fung, Monkey, Crane, Mei Ling(Golden Cat), Mantis, Song, Viper, Peng, Lian, Bian Zao, Ànyǐng, and Xuě. A quintet of this generation become the Furious Five, and the looks on their faces say that despite how idiotic Po can be, they'll follow him anywhere.
Struggles across deserts, snowy mountains, forgotten ruins...Po eating everyone's food...the struggles are definitely real.
The scenes switches to serious Po slowly walking through the remains of the panda village he was born in, clearly exhausted and bruised from constant battle. Though a warm and supporting paw from the other world pushes him to keep heading forward.
Much has to be done in order to take Shen head-on. His friends right alongside him. Tigress catches the horns of Master Ox, Fung is clashing tails with Master Croc, Peng is narrowly avoiding the swinging hammer of Master Rhino, Ànyǐng clashing his blade with Wolf Boss, while the rest help fend off the army. And Po jumps off from the helm of the ship, outwards towards Shen, who unsheathes his Guan Dao. The spiritual image of a Shining Golden Dragon and a Blood Crimson Phoenix fiercely clashing against one another fills the background...
The final scene is a battered Tigress offering her paw to a just as battered Po to help him up, and he gladly takes it. They help each other stand, and walk towards the others with smiles of relief.
Their bonds growing ever stronger...
(End Intro Scene)
In all genuine honesty, Tigress was at a loss on what to do at the moment. There was Master Yao cheerfully waving at her as if nothing was wrong, even though he was clearly being attacked from all sides at once by enemies that just can't seem to touch him. She was interested in helping, really she was. But she was also thinking about the possibility on if he actually wanted her help. Or a couple details deeper than that, he may not even realize that he's in a situation that requires him needing any form of assistance. One could say that his head is in the clouds...no. With Master Yao, it's like he tamed those clouds and began riding on top of them just because he felt that he could truly did it.
"Tiiiiigreeeessssss? What's the matter? You haven't said hi back yet!" Master Yao tilted his head to the side in confusion. which resulted in one of his attackers missing a blow to his neck which most likely would have knocked him out, given his physically frail body. Still, he didn't seem to know of his predicament.
Tigress shook her head. There would be time for pondering later. Even if Master Yao somehow knew what he was doing, she didn't want to stand there and wait for him to get hurt if he made a mistake. It was not thought of as an insult, of course. But even Masters can make common mistakes once in a while that might have terrible consequences, Shifu inadvertently taught her that.
Without wasting more time, she stepped up to the scene before her, then immediately dashed on all fours towards the commotion. One of the other assaulters was making an attempt to grab Master Yao again, but Tigress did a front flip and grabbed Master Yao by the shoulder mid-flip, excited a small 'Wheeeee~' from him as she landed a few meters away, and setting him back on his feet. She didn't mother making sure he was unharmed, obviously seeing that he wasn't, and turned towards the snow leopards with narrowed eyes.
"Master Yao, why are these snow leopards attacking you...?"
"Attack? Is that what they were trying to do? Not tag at all?" He asked this as if he were terribly confused. Then he pouted a bit sadly. "I'm still even more puzzled by the fact that you didn't return my hello..."
Tigress's mood softened a little as she turned towards him and rubbed her neck. "Sorry. Er...hello, Master Yao."
"Hi Tigress!" Suddenly Master Yao was bright and happy again, waving at her even though they were close enough proximity for it not to be necessary. "It's been such a long time...and now you're wearing a lot more black! Is this a new change for you?"
"Well...kinda. But it isn't the first change of attire that I've made...it shouldn't matter right now anyway. We have bigger matters to attend to, like those attackers. Do you mind telling me why they're attacking you?"
"Oh yes! You were asking me something about that! It really is quite a strange story to behold. And now that you're here, I'm more than willing to share the experience!"
Tigress had to redirect her focus for the moment. The snow leopards came down on her with a team pounce. She grabbed Master Yao by the sides and back flipped away from the pounce pile to a couple of feet away, then set him down again. The elder Master tilted his head a bit as her swift reaction. Her eyes were now focused again. They would have to talk lat-
Her thoughts were cut off by a rather shrill shout that sounded like it came from her Master...probably because it did. Before she could react, Shifu had jumped through the bushes and into the quintet of enemies before pushing his arms out with force that sent out a small burst of Chi that scattered them across the ground in different directions. When they could get up and look at their new obstacle, all they found was Shifu's narrowed, serious eyes.
"I would be leaving this area if I were you. Further hostility will leave you quite badly broken."
The snow leopards eyes widened as they recognized him. Despite the bandages covering part of his body, his slightly tattered robes that allowed them to be seen, and the long, also tattered cloak wrapped around his neck and flowing with the wind, giving him a strong, 'wanderer' type vibe...they were still able to tell that this was Shifu. One of them hesitatingly stepped forward, but another pawed his chest and shook his head in denial. With that one notion, they all narrowed their eyes at Shifu, before turning around and jumping into the shadows with the trees and onwards, disappearing from view.
Though Shifu waited, relying on his hearing to see if they were truly retreating. When he couldn't hear their steps anymore, he relaxed his posture. "I guess they aren't as foolish as I was expecting them to be."
"Fuzzy!" Master Yao approached Shifu from behind and happily hugged his head, getting a feel for his fur.
"Master Yao?! W-What are you doing here?!" Shifu wondered, his eyes wandering around swiftly to gain any sight of the box the blackbuck always resided in. "Where is your box?"
"Oooh! Right, my box!" Yao nodded, lightly pressing his hooves together before stopping abruptly, gaining silence from Shifu and Tigress. Then he shrugged. "I lost it."
Shifu blinked. Tigress blinked. Both of them blinked at the same time. Then the former lifted one finger. "You...lost it?"
"Yep. I lost it. A pack of bandits attacked my servants and scattered, then they took me and my box faaaaaar away somewhere! Then they started interrogating me, but they must have not have liked to talk to me so much because after a while they threatened to kill me. So I knocked them out and left the box there in the middle of someplace, not looking back. Have no idea where it is now. It's just gone. Poof! Probably won't ever see it again." Yao paused. "...Oh! Look at this cloak you have, Fuzzy! So tattered yet it also gives off a traveler kind of vibe...you've been traveling for a very long time, haven't you?"
Shifu was still in a state of shock. Master Yao was amongst a bandit attack that scattered all of his servants. He then knocked said bandits out and left on his own? For how long?!
"Um...Master Yao? How long have you been just wandering around without your box?"
"Ooooh, right! I've been out of my box ever since I sensed that Master Oogway had passed on..still highly unfortunate. Especially since his appearance might have possibly dispelled the tragedy that befell the Valley of Peace. It's so very, very sad." He lowered his head, looking genuinely upset about the memory.
Shifu and Tigress weren't immune. They still felt a bit sore about that and that it was what sealed the Valley's fate. The former was still more visibly form by this fact than the latter. But then they both came to the same realization. This had been for a very long time now, a couple months in fact. Three to be the very minimum.
Tigress stared at the blackbuck in shock. "You were wandering around for months just like we were? Yet you were all...by yourself?"
"Pretty much. But most of the time I was able to see many different interesting things! Like the rough skin of an angry rhino! Or the crazy, frenzied squawking of rather irritated crows! The multiple conflicting or combining smells of these flowers! The glistening of morning dew on the grass! And so much more!" Yao clapped. "I have the chance to experience all of the things I could not, now that I no longer have that box holding me in one place. It's been quite lively since then."
I can take a wild guess on what angered that rhino and irritated those crows. And still not a scratch on him. Tigress made a mental note of this. "So...maybe now you can tell us why those snow leopards attacked you?"
"Maybe...after you introduce me to your friends!"
"W-What?!"
"It shouldn't be too much of a hassle, can it? I've easily grasped the difference between when I first met you, and now. You're definitely happier, and that's because you managed to make plenty of friends. And I wish to see them, if you may."
Tigress rubbed her arm with indecision. "Well-"
"Tigress! What's taking you so long, darn it!" Fung suddenly pushed the bush away while moving towards her irritably. "I mean, you just disappeared out of now where along with Shifu, and then-" he stopped walking and talking when his eyes met with Master Yao's, who was now smiling at him as well. "Uh...who's the old guy?"
BAM!
"That is rude to say outright, Fung." Shifu twirled his staff and set it on the ground again, while the croc was now on the ground and twitching in pain, a comical bruised lump forming on the side of his head.
"This is one of the friends you told me that you missed, Tigress? He looks quite bulky! And the intricate and yet simple design put into his helmet...simply splendid!".Yao said with glee, lightly touching the helmet while the croc tried to regain his bearings due to the blow to his head. "It's also has it's level of shiny!"
"Gimme that." Fung swiped the helmet back, grumbling to himself.
"Yo, Fung! Tigress! Are you out here?!" Po pushed the bush apart and he was followed by everyone else, Fenghuang being the closest one. They all caught sight of Master Yao. Some like Mei Ling the fox, Mrs. Yoon, Fenghuang, and Taotie were surprised to see him, while mostly everyone else was dreadfully confused.
"Oh dear. Is that Master Fenghuang?! Why hello, Master Fenghuang! I can tell that you've taken a very similar style just like Fuzzy!" The blackbuck called for her with a smile.
"...god...dammit." Fenghuang facewinged when her mind confirmed that it is indeed Master Yao, and she cursed the inevitable headaches to come.
All of a sudden, Yao was in front of most of them. He tapped the lotus flowers on Viper's head. "These are so pretty!"
"Um...thank you!"
He shifted to Monkey, getting a soft feel for his tail. "You're not as fuzzy as Fuzzy, but you still have plenty of fuzzy!"
"...who's this guy?"
Shift to Crane, somehow taking his hat without notice, and placing it on his own head. "This gives off just the right amount of shade on a sunny day!"
"Yeah. Er...can I have that back, please?"
Shifts to Mantis, bending down and touching his head. "Hello friend! Judging by your eyes and aura, you're one who fully embraces the ideal that size doesn't matter!"
"...well, at least he didn't call me little."
And then to Po. He had gone and hugged Po's belly, much to his surprise. "You're also very fluffuy, and your belly is incredibly bouncy and jiggly!"
"Yeah, I get that a lot." Po smiled.
Yao gasped in a fit of realization. "Of course! An adorable fluffy panda bear! That's who younger Tigress kept talking about!"
Fenghuang raised an eyebrow, then turned towards Tigress. "Adorable, huh?" The tiger immediately blushed, her fur not as successful at hiding her blush this time.
Master Yao proceeded with this strange act of greeting by greatly appreciating the simplest detail about them. And honestly...they felt much better about themselves because of it. No seriously, they gained quite a confidence boost just because he complimented them on their smallest physical feature. He didn't actually have any difficulty in finding something for Mantis despite him being the smallest, and it also greatly improved his confidence a bit more than everyone else.
After he managed to calm down, they found enough time and space to talk. "So this is the Great Master Yao? The keeper of secrets of Kung Fu..." Golden Cat Mei Ling said while gazing at him in amazement. "And you say that you lost the box you meditated inside for sixty years?"
"Yep. It's gone. Again, have absolutely no idea where it is. I traveled pretty far." Yao tasted the noodle soup that Mr. Ping prepared, and his eyes beam. "Delicious...cannot begin to describe how amazing this noodle soup is!"
"Oh stop, it can't be that amazing...except when it kinda is." Mr. Ping said with a smile.
Yao turned to him while holding out his bowl. "Truly! It's like my taste buds are jumping with true absolute joy for the first time in years! My, I don't think I've even been using them properly until now!" He pouted. "I didn't eat as much as I'd like. My servants have always had this idea that I couldn't eat anything that wasn't approved by them. They're a bunch of party poopers, but I know they meant well. Even if they weren't totally good at showing it."
"Many people have at least one person like that in their lives." Monkey agreed. "You're not worried about your servants?"
"Considering they were taking care of Master Yao...I'm pretty sure they'll be fine." Fenghuang rolled her eyes. "Alright, Bucky. It's time to truly talk about why you're out here. The question keeps being dodged."
"Bucky...? Oh! My first nickname! And it sounds splendid!"
"...I made an error." Fenghuang sweatdropped with a sigh. "And the question was dodged again. Worst thing is, he's not doing it on purpose..."
"My apologies! I was trying to say something about what I was doing, but we kept getting interrupted. I'll try to get to it this time." Master Yao placed his bowl down. "It's quite a fascinating story. Someone was chasing me for something that they wanted. But I don't know what they could possibly want from me. I didn't have anything worth value to them. At least...I don't think so. Probably money...probably not. Every village I passed by offered me free food and places to stay overnight. I told them they didn't have to do that for me...but they insisted! Such nice hospitality from wonderful people, don't you think?"
They probably did that because of how cherished he is when it comes to the Kung Fu secrets he withholds. Fenghuang deduced.
"And I discovered something quite interesting! While I was getting ready to leave one of the villages, I stumbled into one of the mail carts! I rustled inside for a bit, because of such a balance of the rough, sturdy structure of the cart, alongside the fresh scent of good morning mail-"
"Get on with it, damn you." Fenghuang muttered.
"I popped back out, feeling a bit winded. Then to my amazement, I pulled this out of my beard!" Master Yao pulled something shining out of his beard, and held it out for the group to see. Shifu gazed in shock as he recognized the simple, yet also mysterious design of the key. He stood up and blinked slowly.
"The Key of Mount Penglai..."
"So that's what it is! My mind have been in wonder of it for such a long time!" Yao said with relief.
"Mount Penglai's Key, huh? That's quite a find." Fenghuang nodded.
"How come, Fenghuang?" Po asked while he had dumplings in his cheeks.
"Mount Penglai is a pretty closed off Mountain/City, Po. In fact...no one has ever heard word from the place in a seriously long time. The Key is used to lock it's gates. And once those gates are locked...the city is almost completely isolated from the outside world in every sense possible. Once those gates are closed, it's complete lock down for the entire city. No one goes in or out. The Key was put into the mail system, and is constantly mailed to random locations so that it can't be tracked to exactly one place. They used this method so that the key would never fall into the wrong hands. And..." Her eyes shifted towards Master Yao, who was balancing the key on his nose. "...this might just be a bit worse than that."
"Wait...you mean like, the city is completely cut off from the outside world? That can't possibly be good for them." Po blinked. "They can't do anything about it until the gates are unlocked with that Key?" He blinked again. Then slowly...a wide smile crept on his face. Crane noticed it and sighed.
"You want to go and unlock those gates, don't you?"
"I totally wanna go and unlock those gates. It's gonna be like, so awesome when they finally get out of those walls. They're gonna be like, 'What's this thing!' Or, 'What's that taste like?!' Or 'I bet it tastes good!' That's totally gonna be something they ask, ya know."
"Sure they will, Panda." Fenghuang rolled her eyes playfully, patting his head lightly. "But we still need to stay focused. We said that we'd get the pup back to his mama wolf, and that's what we're gonna do first. Then we'll head to Mount Penglai and unlock those gates. I'm pretty curious about what they've been doing in there with no one from the outside world able to check in on them..."
Mei Ling the Golden Cat listened in on the passing conversation about their plans...as well as something spying on them from one of the trees. Shifu was obviously able to hear it too, and he nodded to her in recognition. They waited for a couple seconds...then Mei Ling took her staff from her back, jumped up and swiped it to the side while airborne. She felt her weapon hit, and her guess was right. A crow flew out of the cover of the tree leaves and crashed into the ground.
"Agh! What the hell?! Who just jumps up and hits people with a...a..." The crow grumbled for a bit, until he saw that the party was closing in on him with questioning hard looks. "...uh...um...this isn't what it looks like?"
"Like hell it isn't! You were spying on us! I know because that's usually my thing!" Song shouted.
The crow blinked a couple moments...before flapping his wings and attempting to fly away. But he was ruthlessly forced back into the ground by a quick stomp on his back courtesy of Fenghuang. She had a steeled, predatory gaze in her eyes that demanded submission. "I don't think so, rat with wings. You're obviously not leading this little scouting assignment of yours...so why ya here, bud?"
"I'll never ta-" *crack* "AGH!" With a flick of Fenghuang's talon, his wing was now dislocated.
"You should never say never, little bird. People like me know how to be quite persuasive." Fenghuang said nonchalantly. "Now be a good little birdie and tell us what we need to know."
"Ngh...okay! I was assigned to follow that old blackbuck guy-"
"That's me!"
"-and retrieve the Key Of Penglai from him. Once news got out to my comrades that it never reached any of the posts we were assigned to, we were in a frenzy trying to look for it. I had him in my sights...yet I wasn't expecting an entire party to be escorting him around. Especially figures like Fenghuang and Shifu. You two...heck, this entire party is a wild card."
"When did we ever say we were tame?" Tigress said bluntly. They didn't know why, but all of the younger males shivered in fear due to Tigress being the one to say this, and so calmly. Even though it was slightly true.
"What she said." Fenghuang noted with a smile, easing her foot off of the crow's back. "You're incredibly lucky I'm not tearing your wings off. Now why don't you limp out of here before you break your other wing."
"Alright. Fine...but don't think this is over. You're still being watched...and there's no way you won't pay for this. We're getting that key out of your possession, one way or another." He groaned as he stood up on his legs and glared. "No one is allowed inside Mount Penglai, there's no way you can get in."
Po shrugged. "We have a key. We got a place to go. We have a motive. I'd say we're pretty set on going to unlock those gates."
"Ugh. I was TRYING to say that-"
"All I hear is 'Please Oh please, Lady Song! Please snap my neck so I won't have to listen to my own annoying voice anymore!' The snow leopard said with a cheery voice, though her eyes were slitted as a warning sign. The crow sweated with intense fear before limping away as fast as he could. She rolled her eyes, allowing her parasol to lean over her shoulder.
"...What an effective intimidation tactic! Are you a skilled assassin?" Yao wondered while turning to Song.
"I am when I need to be. But thievery is my main game."
"Unfortunately." Tigress rolled her eyes. "Very well. It appears that Master Yao is joining us on our wandering path."
"Or...and just hear me on on this...we can just leave him behind? No one's gonna know. And by the looks of it, he's already pretty good at taking care of himself anyhow! So I don't really see any harm in letting him continue to do so."
"...Like I said, we're taking him with us."
"Ugh! Fine! We'll play by your decision, Stripes. But I don't have to like it." The owl pouted, folding her wings. "Why are you so adept on keeping him around, anyway? Did he do something for you?"
Tigress initially said nothing as she walked ahead of the party. "...There was a time that I was missing Po and Fung more than ever...then Master Yao visited the Valley of Peace. He offered me...some pretty good advice." Tigress answered coolly. "He's actually much wiser than he looks..."
"This parasol offers just the right amount of shade on a sunny day!" Yao stated cheerfully, standing under Song's parasol while holding it in his hands. The snow leopard was confused and yet amused by this. "I feel so refreshed and cool under this shade! Splendid!"
"...and that's saying a lot." Tigress finished.
"Can we...can we just back up for a second?" Po raised his paw. "I mean...this is Master Yao. The Master Yao. As in, the guy who can Kung Fu with his mind...I gotta see it!"
Fenghuang rolled her eyes. "We don't have time for him to show off, Panda."
"Please, Master?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"...No?"
Po's eyes began to enlarge and sparkle. "Pretty pretty please?"
"...N-No..."
"Pretty please with a side order of extra awesomeness?" His eyes became bigger, and more pleading by the moment. Fenghuang struggled to maintain her resolve...she failed.
"Aaaaagggghhhh...fine! Fine, have it your way! Just...stop doing that thing with the eyes!"
"Yaaaaaay~" Po said quietly, lightly clapping with glee.
Mei Ling the fox clasped her paws and giggled. "You can try to hide your appreciation for cute things, Fenghuang. But a panda is cuteness incarnate. Not as easy to avoid."
"S-Shut up, Vixen." Fenghuang muttered, a blush forming on her cheeks. "The sooner he gets to see Bucky's stupid tricks the sooner we can move. It's not because he's too adorable to say no to..."
"My! What a surprise from you, Fenghuang!" Yao clapped. "I never took you for someone to hide such affection behind harshness!"
"Shut. Up. Bucky."
"They have a name for that, I think." Viper tapped her lip with her tail, trying to remember.
But Shifu certainly did. He turned towards Fenghuang with a smile that was far too calm. She raised an eyebrow. "Why do I get the feeling I'm not gonna like what comes out of your mouth?"
All Shifu did was tap his staff twice, smile innocently, and said: "...Tsundere...Owl."
That's it. That was it for her. The owl could only stare at Shifu in utter disbelief at the nickname for her that flowed outside of his mouth. Her beak opened and closed multiple times, her eyes were wide with shock, and her wings fluttered slightly, losing a couple of feathers. Then her wings clenched, and her eyes glared fiery daggers right at him.
"Oh hell no."
"You have to admit, it has a good ring to it, doesn't it?"
"There's no damn way I'm letting that catch on!"
"Too late. I have it memorized." Shifu smiled proudly. He finally has an effective counter!
"I mean it Shifu! You'd better put that name out of your head right now!" The owl scowled, fluttering her wings wildly. "Hey! Are you listening to me?!"
"Oh, I hear you loud and clear...Tsundere Owl."
"RAAAAH!"
"Yeah...so Master Yao! Can you show us what you can do?!" Po pleaded again.
"Hm...I don't know, Po. Just showing off my techniques like that? That doesn't sound like something a responsible Master would be doing..." Yao pondered this as Po began to look disappointed. "Buuuut...since I'm no longer in my box, and I doubt I'll ever find it again, I might as well show you anyway. I'd call it a learning experience of sorts! Wanderers can learn too!"
"If...if you think so, Master Yao." Tigress nodded.
Yao nodded. "Alrighty then! Now I believe the first shall be...Oh! I think someone else wants to see the moves, too! Someone is nearby!"
"What?" Tigress said as she looked around to see what Yao was talking about. She noticed that the air suddenly got a bit chilly, and that it was supposed to be decently warm outside. "Could someone actually be causing that...?"
"Of course someone is causing it, Tigress. Some are gifted with extra special abilities, such as elemental manipulation. That includes snow and ice. Some can do it at a level that cannot be taught. There's many with that kind of ability." Yao smiled as he sat up and pointed forward. "Right over there."
Ànyǐng immediately turned his nose in that direction, and noticed that Master Yao was right. Someone else was watching them, and they didn't smell like a crow this time. With narrowed eyes, he ran in that direction on all fours, and pounced over a rock, feeling himself pin someone down. When he adjusted himself to see who he had pinned, his eyes were wide with shock.
A goat. And not one of the shorter goats like Mrs. Yoon. This one seems to be at least a head shorter than him, and she was slim, and she seemed to be annoyed rather than surprised that he pinned her down. And another subtle thing that was off about her...was how familiar she looked.
"Of all the things to be pinned down by...it had to be a wolf." she mumbled underneath him, rolling her eyes. "Hey. Think you can get off me now? Wrong ideas can be made from this sort of situation."
"O-Oh! Right!" Ànyǐng was off her in a flash, and he also helped her stand up straight and dusted her off. What followed as an unorganized plethora of apologies that can't be understood in the usual ways. Her eyebrow twitched in irritation as she held up a hand to stop him.
"Okay okay, I get it. You're sorry. Sheesh, I didn't see it as THAT big a deal."
"Y-Yeah...still..."
"Still nothing. You didn't know."
"Okay..."
"...You don't have a lot of backbone, do you?"
"I'm, uh...still working on that..." A bit of silence passed by the two of them, the wolf nervously rubbing his neck while the feminine goat was waiting for him to say anything else. Eventually he did, rather shyly. "My name is Ànyǐng. And...you are?"
"I'm Xuě. What are you doing away from the rest of your pack?"
His eyes widened a bit in shock. "What...you know about the place?"
"I'll admit, it's pretty well hidden. I only found it on accident because I wasn't really caring about where I was going. I just knew I had to keep moving."
The wolf seemed to accept this explanation. After all, he was in no position to pry into her personal reasons. However, the others might not be so cooperative with her wishes. Especially since her name matches up with the last one on the scroll that Po and Tigress keep close to them. Po is persistent, but not too forceful. Tigress...is both of those things. But at the very least, this can make many goals that much easier.
"Alright. Since you know where it is, you can help me and my friends get to it. I have to check in with my mother. As well as my little brother."
"Your mom and brother lives there, huh? What about a father?" She saw his ears droop a bit and his eyes narrowed. Her own eyes drooped as she suddenly realized the subject she inadvertedly poked at. "Wait, I didn't mean-"
"It's fine. It's not what you think." Ànyǐng shook his head. "All I know is, I need to get back to them and show them the way. I think...they'll be surprised. What do you say? You don't look like you have anything better to do."
The wolf nodded in agreement. He turned and left the area with the anthro goat by his side. Something about her...he didn't know. He feels as if they've met before.
The feeling is mutual.
(Láng Wō: Wolf's Den)
Po was amazed by the view of Ànyǐng's home village. He wasn't the only one.
First off, his village was much, much larger than he told them that it was. He told then it was more of a den than anything. Mantis remarked, quite clearly: Dens that large...have NOT been heard of!
The village was located near a hidden waterfall, a part of it even went beyond the waterfall. There were plenty of small huts, as well as a small river that stemmed from aforementioned waterfall. Surprising to most of the party, the wolves here have quite a majority of crops very close to the water, and they seem to be well taken care of. There was also a large open area where they could see a couple of wolves roughhousing with one another in quite a violent manner...only to have a huge laugh afterwards.
That's what surprised the the most. These wolves were rowdy. Rowdy in a way that Fung, Monkey, and Mantis were very familiar with, as they were the biggest and most persistent troublemakers in their respective homes, and lived in the poorest areas of them. Mei Ling the Fox seemed to be very familiar with it too, as she brought a paw up to her muzzle in amusememt. But the rowdiness itself wasn't what surprised them all. It was what Master Yao sensed so casually. Every single wolf adult, cub, elder and all...none of them were filled with intense negative chi. To put it in more specific detail:
Not even a speck of darkness could be found in their hearts. Mischievous intent, perhaps, but definitely none were genuinely evil. This puts the whole 'wolves are evil' stereotype into serious questioning, and then some.
Shifu blinked in disbelief. "This is...unheard of. Compared to most wolves we've met that were either assassins, bandits, or evil mercenaries...these wolves are relatively tamer than any of them. And tame can't even be the most accurate way to describe them."
"Yeah. This is my village." Ànyǐng said while rubbing his neck. "A large pack of rowdy wolves that roughhouse a lot...but they otherwise have pretty big hearts. Their pack leader is the most chaotic of all."
"More chaotic than all of this?" Crane said in disbelief, gesturing his wing to the entire village as they made their way towards it. "I don't even know how they manage to keep this place together!"
"Perhaps with a cheerful shindig? They do seem to be having a lot of fun!" Master Yao said cheerfully. "We should go down and say hi!"
"Keeping the place together is actually pretty easy. The pack leader, or the Alpha, keeps and restores order when things get out of hand."
"It's surprising to know that there's any order at all." Mei Ling the Golden Cat tilted her head curiously. "Who's the pack leader?"
He rubbed his neck again, shrugging nervously. "Uh..."
A couple moments later...
The party now stood in awe, jaws dropping(minus Tigress)at the sight before them. They were lead by Ànyǐng to the local tavern...which is also where a large majority of the wolves hang out and have fun together. A large amount of them were mostly the male wolves looking for a good time. This is normally the case with taverns and wolves being out together.
But it this instance...
"Go, mistress!"
"Drink away, mistress! Chug it!"
"She might just break her own record!"
A lone wolfess was sitting in the very back of the tavern, currently appealing to her crowd by chugging down sake...an entire barrel of it. With one paw. And judging by the other empty barrels around her, at least five, she's been doing this for a while. When she sensed that the beverage was completely emptied from the barrel, she set it down with a rumbling through the tavern. She casually wiped any leftovers from her muzzle, and let out a loud unladylike belch. Her watchers cheer even louder after this.
Her looks matched her apparent attitude. Her fur was incredibly messy, and a good portion of it grew far enough from her head to form a bang in front of her left eye. She wore a vest that looked like it was custom made. It had the symbol of a wolf surrounded by purple fire, while looking incredibly fierce and dangerous. While on the back, it had the image of a wolf howling up towards the move, it's form and shadow directly in front of it. Her feet were wrapped up in tap, but her toes and nails were clearly visible. Tape also covered a portion of her arms, wrists, and paws, once again leaving room for her claws. Her violet pants tightly hugged her figure, which may be her intention, or she just didn't care. Most likely the latter.
And the lack of decency was also noticed, as her vest was undone just enough to not allow the entire thing fall off, and also just enough for her assets to be visible, and it made some of the guys blush brightly. The first one to recover was Crane, who shook his head and turned towards Ànyǐng.
"She's...uh...interesting, to say the least."
"I'll say. Her name is Lièrén(Hunter). The Alpha of the entire pack."
The wolfess blinked a couple times as she caught sight of the others, with a raised eyebrow. "Huh. We have guests that aren't wolves. Been a long time since we had one of those, and they didn't attack us." Her eyes gazed at Po for a couple moments, and Po felt as if she has never stared at anything so intensely focused like she was on him, while not showing the slightest emotion about it...before her eyes also caught Ànyǐng in her sights, and her eyes brightened with cheer, and she waved. "Hi Sweetie!"
The party jawdropped(once again, except Tigress) once again, totally shocked. They all looked towards the teen wolf with incredulous looks, as he pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh.
"Yes...my mom is the pack leader."
Mantis looked at the wild mom, then to the relatively sane son. Back and forth, back and forth, trying to gain some sort of sensibility of the ridiculousness before him. He quickly gave up and gave the teen wolf a deadpan look that clearly said so, while hopping on his shoulder. Monkey flicked his tail while scratching the top of his head.
"Dude...I did not see that coming."
"That she is the pack leader?"
"That, and that she would also be hot."
"Ugh..." Tigress pinched the bridge of her nose.
Not sure if I got Master Yao down very well. I really tried, because I really like the guy. He's super cool and hilarious~
But anyways, that's it for this one. Not a lot happened except meeting Master Yao, who had the Key to unlocking the gates to Mount Oenglai...which actually is a big deal when it comes to getting to Gongmen City and figuring out the issues going on there. Because they're still oblivious to Shen's current takeover of it.
Hope it does well enough, as I work on the next chapter.
See ya~