As I took my first mouthful of noodles, I was impressed with how good they were. Better than my own noodle soup I made a few days ago! I continued to eat the bowl of noodles in silence as did everybody else. Once Mantis had finished his bowl, which was the fastest out of us all despite his size, he couldn't help but compliment the soup.
"Ahhh, I swear this stuff gets better everytime I taste it! I gotta know Mr. Ping's secret ingredient"!
Monkey then spoke up.
"You mean like that one time you had to know and tried to sneak into the kitchen You know, when Mr. Ping chased you out with a fly swatter"?
"Hey, I'd do it again if I could just find out what was in his noodles"!
"Mantis, don't be so greedy. You should just be glad that you're being served after that incident". Viper interjected. I just listened in seeing how I was unaware of the full story on that day.
"Yeah well... Fine". Mantis gave up. I couldn't help but imagine Mantis as Plankton from Spongebob after listening to the conversation. It brought a small smile to my face.
"What's so funny"? Asked Monkey, noticing the grin I had plastered on my face.
"Oh, nothing. Just memories". I half lied and continued to eat the rest of the noodles in the bowl. I quickly finished them off and tossed a few yuan on the table which I had gotten from a emssenger earlier before heading down into the village for training at the Jade Palace. Never knew you got paid to protect people but who am I to complain? I can think of a few superheroes who must be rolling in their graves right now.
"So, are you still wanting to see that well? We've still got time before we train again". Crane asked me. There wasn't much else to do so why not? I nodded and Crane and Viper led me to where the well was located. As we walked away, I spoke up to break the silence.
"I got to say, I'm surprised that Monkey or Mantis had nothing to say about me running off. Hell, they didn't even mention my eye".
"Well, we might have had something to do with that". Crane replied.
"What do you mean"? Viper then spoke before Crane got the chance to.
"We asked them not to be insensitive about the last few days. With some... persuassion, they complied".
"Thanks". Was all I said before keeping to myself.

TEN MINUTES LATER
Well... Mantis was right. Size isn't much of a factor. The well wasn't even one foot high! However I kept from showing my disapointment from the others and smiled at them.
"It's... a nice well". I spoke, trying to find the best words to describe the well.
"Thanks. You know, I didn't even know this was named after me until it was built". Viper said proudly.
"Yeah, it was a surprise for all of us". Crane said somewhat sarcastically.
"So what about you Crane, did you have anything named after yourself"?
"Who me? Nononono hehe. I'm not very noticable among the community". Crane spoke.
"What are you talking about? You were the one who cut the ribbon for that childrens hospital a year ago. Remember"? Viper reminded the avian.
"Oh right. I still remember being hospitalised after cutting through that silk". Crane said as he blushed remembering the incident.
"You're allergic to silk"? I asked a little surprised that a kung fu master would have an allergy such as that.
"Well, yeah"... He trailed off, not really wanting to go in any further on the subject which I was happy enough to leave alone. However...
"ACHOOOO"! Crane exploded out, spraying me with saliva.
"AGH, YUCK"! I exclaimed in disgust as I twitched from just being sneesed on. "That's just disgusting"!
"Oh, I- I'm sorry". Crane took a small pause to sniff before continuing. "I'm allergic to freshly cut grass as well".
"Great. Just great". I spoke with no emotion as I tried to picture myself in a calm envirionment so that I wouldn't freak out from being covered in God knows what kind of germs! "If I get a cold from this Crane, you're dead". I then wiped what I could from my face.
"I'm gonna head back up to the Jade Palace. Maybe I can find something to burn my face off". I half joked before slithering away.
Eventually I got back up to the jade palace and washed my face in the barracks almost immediatley. I still had another five minutes before training, there wasn't much else I could do within five minutes so for once, I got a head start from everyone else and procedded to the training hall to try the fire pipes. At least I could dodge one easily enough now, so why not try with two? Or there was the curved spinning logs that I still had to try. Yeah, let's give that a go.
I entered the training hall and sure enough, I was the only one inside. I noticed some of the shelved weapons stacked up at the walls. Spears of different size and style, swords that could cut a rhino in half with ease, nunchucks, shields, every weapon that I could imagine, that wasn't a firearm, was within my reach. I slithered over to the right side of the training hall to get a better look at the spears. I've never actually handled an actual weapon before so the experience was uniqe to me as I grasped one of the shorter spears with my tail and spun it slowly over my head. The weapon was lighter than it looked, as though it was hollow. Did that mean it could break easily? I didn't bother to think as I kept spinning it for a little while longer until I held it in front of me as though I was actually about to stab someone with it. Twirled it round again and thrust it the other way. Nearly stabbing Shifu in the face.
"How long was he standing there"? I thought to myself, feeling embarrased. Shifu seeme quite relaxed for a guy who was nearly accidentally impaled with a weapon over twice their own size, I don't think he even flinched or blinked at the point singing only an inch away from where his nose was.
"Master Shifu"! I addressed. "I- I was just... training with some of the weapons"! I stammered. It was obvious that he didn't fall for my lie as he raised an eyebrow.
"I noticed. Perhaps you would be better starting your training in unarmed combat". Even though it was a suggestion, Shifu still made it sound like an order. The last thing I needed was to anger him as well as Tigress so I put the spear back in the rack where I picked it up from and was about to jump into the pit until Po showed up. Shifu then left me to speak to Po. I didn't catch much of what theyy were talking about. Only that Shifu said something about a fight club before handing Po some sort of red paper note. I decided not to bother sticking my nose where it wasn't needed. I then saw Po leave instantly after he was done talking to Shifu, probably to complete whatever Shifu had in store for him.
I then turned back to my training, not letting myself get distracted by Shifu's silent judging. I could sense him watching me from the walkway above. I just decided to work on the things I needed improvement on. NOT sparring, I draw the line there. I guess the spinning dragon blocks would be the best choice. I was already doing well enough on those but I could be better. So instead of trying two like last time, I would try four.
I slithered in between four of the dragon blocks, centered myself, and pushed one of the wooden arms. It spun round quickly, even with the slightest amount of force it spun out of control. Thankfully I expected this as it had happened last time and stuck my tail up from the back of my head, stopping the arm from swinging round and clubbing me on the back. I swooped my head in the direction of the next dragon block to my left and whacked it with the tip of my nose. I quickly ducked to dodge the arm as it spun round and pulled my head back up only to quickly dodge the other arm from the first dragon block which was now spinning in the opposite direction after blocking it. Suddenly, the largest spinning limb from the second dragon block, the tail at the bottom, began to spin, forcing me to jump over it before blocking another wooden limb.
This continued for a while. From two spinning dragon blocks, to three, to all four. I dodged, blocked and jumped my way through the whole exercise. That was until I was finally hit by the tail which caused my to fall to the ground. I then jumped from the four dragon blocks to safety before I could suffer from more than just a black eye. I then turned my attention to see if Shifu was watching. He was. Along with all the members of the furious five. My confidence quickly turned to embarrasment again as I straightened myself up and bowed to Shifu.
"Six minutes. You're improving python". Shifu spoke with a small but easily noticable smile on his face. Everyone seemed to do the same. Well, everyone except for miss Buzzkill who stood there still glaring at me. I would have thought after the whole punching me in the face thing, she would have seen us as even. Some people. However my thought were interrupted as I sneezed, dropping everyones smiles. I just looked up to them and said five words.
"Crane, dig yourself a grave".