AN: Sorry for the delay; I suffered some nasty writer's block and spent a while trying to figure out what way to take the story. Hopefully, this chapter was worth the wait.
Chapter 6: Panda Power, Part One
Mei's morning went just as it did yesterday. Beams of sunlight shone through her window, illuminating everything in the room. Light snoring occupied the scene, courtesy of the room's sleeping occupants.
As the light touched her face, Mei began to stir. With a mighty yawn, she attempted to raise her arms for a stretch, but found them weighed down.
Mei tiredly glanced around. As far as she could see without her glasses, she appeared to be surrounded by blurry snoring cushions: one blue and the other green. Odd, but-
WAIT A SEC!
Now wide awake, she did a double take upon realising exactly what, or who, the sleeping lumps were. On her right, Tyler ungracefully snored and drooled all over the pillow (gross!), and on her left, Miriam whistled in her sleep.
As the situation dawned on her, it took all of Mei's willpower to not panda out on the spot as a rosy blush lit her cheeks. Instead, she focused on how the heck she ended up like this to begin with.
Okay, think, Mei, think! I remember waking up in, like, the middle of the night from another weird nightmare. She shuddered at that memory. Mir and Ty were up – did I wake them up? – and they both… okay, phew, they both kept me company when I panda-ed out. Nothing weird there.
Still, it was pretty cozy being sandwiched between her friends like this. The panda's chi burned deeply within all of them, granting them a warmth that could endure any cold.
This warmth felt just slightly stronger than her usual warmth, though, and flared up whenever Mei even glanced at Tyler or Miriam.
The moment wasn't to last, however. Mei's ears picked up a tired yawn and the sounds of stirring, and her eyes widened in fear and embarrassment as Tyler and Miriam both came to.
"Oh! Uh…" Miriam made an effort to escape, but between her friend's body and the bedroom wall, she had no luck. After realising she wouldn't get away, she simply laughed awkwardly and flashed a cheesy grin. "Sleep well, Mei?"
Mei ungracefully chuckled at that. "Uh, yeah. Thanks for keeping me company, Mir. You too, Tyler."
"Oh, sure, no prob-GAH!" Upon realising the compromising situation, he was in, Tyler immediately panda-ed out and ungracefully slid off his former nemesis' bed with a thud.
"You mean I slept with you two!? Uh, ew!" Now very much wide awake, Tyler tried not to think about the cooties he probably had now and instead hastily wiped the drool off his mouth. "I mean, I guess I'm happy that you're okay but-"
Poof!
Mei, Miriam and Tyler immediately turned to see a slack-jawed Priya and Abby. Both had their tails and ears out; the normally stoic Priya was shocked enough to do so while Abby was too stunned to panda out fully.
"Uhhhh…" Miriam started. "How much did you guys see?"
"Every word, sister." Priya grinned. "This is just like one of my fanfics."
"OMG!" Abby yelled, before dialing it down to a whisper when the three shushed her. "Did you guys make out-"
"No!" Mei interrupted, frowning. "I had a nightmare and Ty and Mir slept with me to help me get through it. I… went full panda."
Priya noticed Miriam frown for a second at Mei's denial. Her furry ears poked through her togue. Yup, classic novel behaviour: 'one friend has a crush on the other but the other friend doesn't realise it'. I'll have to confront Mir about that later. Despite his denial, Tyler visibly shared his green-haired friend's disappointment. But Tyler's basically a tsundere for Mei, and she's one right back to him. I smell a love triangle…
Shelving that thought away to think about later, Priya focused on comforting her red-headed friend. "Are you okay, girlfriend? Wanna talk about it with all of us?"
Mei contemplated it, before shrugging. "Sure. But you all gotta promise to keep it a secret. I mean it! Nothing leaves this room."
"You know me, girl. Nothing escapes these lips."
"Yeah, Mei! My lips are sealed!"
Miriam and Tyler, already knowing the story, merely nodded.
As Mei spilled her story once again for the benefit of Priya and Abby, both looked on in fascination and increasing horror. Abby nervously bit her claws and Priya tilted her head inquisitively.
Eventually, Abby interjected. "Wait a sec, I thought you were, like, all fearless and stuff there! Y'know, when you were fighting your giant, cute but terrifying mom with your big fuzzy butt!" She dropped to the floor to prove her point.
Mei blushed at the embarrassing reminder. "I think that was the adrenaline talking. Looking back, I could've died. What if I failed to stop mom? You'd all be dea-in danger because of me!"
Miriam and Tyler just barely dodged out the way as Mei panda-ed out again, now on the verge of tears. Undaunted, Miriam took her paw and whispered reassuringly. "It's okay, Mei. You're safe and we're safe."
"Panda or no panda, remember?" Priya added.
"Yeah, girl." Abby noted. "We're all pandas now, and who could take down a freaky powerful war panda?!"
"I mean, I already survived two panda attacks. I'm tougher than you think, y'know!" Tyler chipped in, flexing to show his (lack of) muscles. "We all are." He added as an afterthought.
Mei chuckled at Tyler's attempt to sound cool. Though she used to find his constant showboating annoying, after getting to know him better, she'd began to find it somewhat endearing, a fact supported by the tingle that crept through her soul whenever they hung out. "Alright, I get it. You guys are still here."
Priya took a seat by the end of Mei's bed. "Have you told your mom?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't." As Priya raised an eyebrow, Mei decided she should elaborate for the benefit of everyone. "Look, I know I'm trying to be more truthful and stuff… but if mom finds out I'm having nightmares about this kind of thing, she'd be horrified! I wanna see her embrace her panda someday, but if she heard about this, she'd probably go right back to holding it back again!"
The friends all uneasily looked to each other, unsure of what to do. After some contemplation, Miriam came forward first. "Hey, it's cool. Nothing leaves this room, remember?"
"But you really gotta tell your mom sometime, Mei." Priya chipped in. "Didn't part of our panda training involve never holding anything back?"
"I know…" Mei trailed off, conflicted. "I'll tell her eventually. Just… not right now."
"Oh!" Abby interrupted, trying to raise the mood. "Speaking of panda training, what's next for our amazing fluffy panda lessons, teach?!"
"Thanks for reminding me, Abby! I almost forgot!" Mei smiled again, bouncing off her bed to address the group. "Besties, today we're gonna gooooooo…" She held for a second. As expected, her friends all tensed in anticipation before she continued. "…to the park."
Tyler moaned in disappointment. "Aw, man? The park? But everyone's gonna see me like…" He poofed out his ears to prove his point. "THIS!"
"C'mon, fuzzy. You didn't seriously think you could hide the panda forever…?" She trailed off. When Tyler merely made a grunt of disagreement, she continued. "Look, mom said she'd need the temple to herself this morning, so it's a no-go. Besides, people loved my panda, they'll love your panda too."
"Yeah, Ty! 'Member your birth-okay, maybe not the best example, but 'member when us girls were raising money for the concert? People loved Mei there!" Miriam added.
"I got to be a bouncer and throw your skinny butt out!" Abby interjected irrelevantly as Priya nodded.
"Besides, anyone dare insult you and they'll have to deal with all of us." Priya added.
"Urgh, fiiiine…" Tyler groaned, sensing that there's no way he'd win this argument. "Can we at least do whatever weird panda business you've got planned somewhere, y'know, secluded? I don't wanna be gawked at like some freaky tourist attraction…"
"Hey! I like being a 'freaky tourist attraction', thank you very much!" Mei jabbed back. "But don't worry, we're not gonna go anywhere too crowded today." Miriam and Tyler both sighed in relief at that. The last thing either of them needed was for everyone to see them panda out the next time their mutual crush did something cute.
The familiar smell of breakfast wafted through the room, which Mei immediately picked up on with a sniff. "Hold that thought. I smell congee…" Another sniff. "And from the sounds of things, enough to feed all of us!"
At breakfast, Mei's friends sat in the same positions they did for last night's dinner. Despite her lingering unease and her friends offering to make room for her to sit alongside them, Mei sat with her parents as usual. Ming had already dug in while Jin was reading that day's paper (which now mentioned a panda-demic going around, doubtlessly a result of the friends' shenanigans yesterday).
As Miriam dug into her congee, she glanced at Mei's mom, who was too busy discussing family stuff with Mei to really notice. Mei had, as expected, played it cool and omitted the whole 'sleeping together because of a giant-panda-induced nightmare' thing, which was probably for the best.
It felt unreal, that the hyper-strict mom of her best friend/crush could also be… that giant, destructive fuzzy thing. It was already weird enough that it turned out Mrs. Lee secretly disliked her – Miriam still had no idea why – but judging from the constant glares when she thought she wasn't looking, she still did. And it hurt!
The panda burned within Miriam with the urge to call Mei's mom out for hurting her best friend like that and to ask just why she didn't like her, but she pushed it away and calmed down with a breath. Where the heck were these thoughts coming from?
Besides, Miriam recognised that she should at least try to stay on good terms with Mei's mom; Mei clearly wanted them all to get along.
So, she decided to shift focus to her red-headed best friend. In some ways, it should have been totally obvious that she was nursing a kind-of crush on the younger Lee. She'd always loved hanging around her, singing 4*Town love songs and ballads from the soul, and that feeling only intensified when her BFF got her panda and became more open and genuine with herself; it was like a whole new side of her, her true self, finally got to come out.
Even when Mei threw them under the bus that one terrible day, Miriam was mad, but she still took care of her BFF's Tamagotchi thingie; the very same one now adorning Mrs. Lee's neck. As she sang lullabies to the thing for nights on end, Miriam realised she probably wouldn't have done anything like that for anyone else; even during those heated days, back when she had no reason to do anything for Mei, she still couldn't bear to hurt her like that.
In retrospect, Miriam realised she probably shouldn't have gotten mad at her bestie; if she had to choose between her own mom and her friends, she couldn't say for sure what she'd have chosen.
Miriam frowned. Mei liked boys, as she triumphantly announced to her giant panda mom. Not girls. Boys, and she'd never once indicated otherwise. Even the whole sleeping together thing didn't get anything out of her.
She sighed and dug back into her congee. Why'd Mei have to be so nice and give her a panda of her own? Miriam just knew Mei was gonna do something she loved about her, and then Miriam would panda out and Mei would know the truth, and things would be so awkward between them! Heck, she'd probably go for Tyler before her!
Gosh, when did having a panda get so hard?
"Why so down, Mir? You've barely touched your delicious congee!" Abby interrupted with a shoulder nudge. "Chin up, we're mystical pandas now! Among the strongest and cutest things in the world! There's so much we can do!"
Miriam smiled at that, despite her turbulent thoughts. Abby's enthusiasm was infectious. "You're right, Abster. I bet there's still a lot we haven't begun to explore yet." Even if the whole 'transforming with strong emotion' thing was a bit inconvenient with her crush who probably didn't return her feelings, it was still pretty cute, with cool mystical powers.
"So, Mei-Mei?" Ming started, trying to ignore the stares Mei's green-haired friend – Miriam, was it? – kept sending her way. Normally, she'd have called the younger girl out for her rudeness and the audacity of thinking she wouldn't notice, but since she was trying to loosen up and be less 'uptight', she decided to let it pass for the time being. "How was your sleepover?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, that." Mei replied, distantly, and a little uneasily. "It was cool. We sang and danced to 4*Town, did our nails, got drunk on soda… Y'know, usual girl stuff."
"I see." Ming sighed. She'd never been allowed to 'hang out', as the 'cool kids' called it, with her own friends back when she was Mei-Mei's age. "And I should assume that none of your friends did anything inappropriate?"
"Pfft, n-no. Have a little faith in them, mom!" Mei flashed an uncertain expression, before smiling. "Besides, if anyone tries anything 'inappropriate', I got these." She poofed out her claws as a show of force.
"I know, Mei-Mei. I just worry sometimes, it's my mother's intuition. If anything happened to you, I don't know what I'd do." Both mother and daughter shuddered at that.
"Thanks, mom." Mei plastered on a big smile, though Ming could see it was slightly strained. To her dismay, Ming recognised that, although both she and her daughter tried to act otherwise, the events of what the media had dubbed 'Pandapocalypse 2002' had done a number on both of them. Still, there was nothing they could do but try to move on as usual.
Jin raised an eyebrow, having decided to interject on the behalf of both his wife and daughter. "Is anything troubling you, Mei?"
Mei looked further conflicted, but quickly brushed it off as usual. Nothing could ever keep a Lee down for long. "Nah, I'm cool, dad. Me and my besties are gonna head to the park. I'm gonna show them how to use some of their cool new panda powers."
"That's… nice to hear." Ming meant it, too; at least Mei's friends wouldn't have to isolate themselves. She'd have pressed further, but she recognised that her Mei-Mei would likely tell her more on her own time. "And, for the love of Sun Yee, please don't tell anyone else about your… wish."
Mei raised an eyebrow, confused. "Why not, mom?"
"I think this should remain a secret for now, at least until we learn more about it."
"But mo-om…" Mei whined. "This panda business is cool! Why shouldn't everyone get a chance to experience pandahood for themselves!?"
"These panda spirits aren't toys, Mei-Mei! They're very destructive in the… wrong hands. You know that." Ming muttered sadly.
"But if we're careful-"
"My answer is NO!" As Mei flinched and her friends looked on, confused, Ming hastily elaborated. "It's not that I don't trust you, Mei-Mei, but you can't just grant anyone a panda spirit. There are those who simply cannot be trusted to use it responsibly. I'm willing to give your friends a chance to prove themselves, but anyone else is strictly forbidden."
As much as she wanted to press the issue, Mei ultimately realised her mother was right and conceded the point. She sighed. "Okay…"
"Good girl. By the way, will you be available to do a show on Monday?"
"Sure, I should be free to do some shows this week! Oh, maybe my besties could join in tooooooo…?"
Ming responded with a curt "We'll see. Maybe if they become fully trained." The idea of her daughter's friends invading her exclusive, sacred tradition sent a shiver down Ming's spine.
Before either of them could continue, Miriam came to the tabletop, having finished her congee. "So, 'master', ready to start the next phase of our epic training?" Priya, Tyler and Abby joined her a second later.
"You betcha!" Mei leapt out of her chair in excitement. "You sure you don't wanna train with us, mom? If you did, you might be able to…" She trailed off, hoping her mom would get the idea.
Ming smiled sadly. "No, dear. I have a lot of work to do." And there's no way I could ever embrace this inconvenience as a part of myself... She leaned over to kiss her daughter on the forehead. "But you all go and have fun. And remember, stay safe and don't do anything dangerous."
"Alright, mom. C'mon, besties! Your totally awesome panda training awaits!" As Mei rushed out the door, her friends followed her out one-by-one.
Ming's Tamagotchi beeped again, demanding food. She merely sighed, knowing the routine. Her investigation could wait a minute; she didn't want to guess what would happen if she let her spirit starve.
The five gathered in a public park, not too far from the Lee residence. Compared to the uneasy atmosphere of the Lee household, the grassy area was open and free; Mei and her friends were truly free to be themselves.
As Mei promised, they stuck to a secluded corner that not many people visited. If not for the panda transformations, they would have appeared to be a bunch of normal tweens – albeit with dyed hair – hanging out.
The four – Tyler, Miriam, Priya, and Abby – sat cross-legged on the grass as Mei (who donned her mom's business blazer once again) tapped on the whiteboard. The awkward events of the day's morning had since been pushed aside; even Miriam and Tyler had been able to ascertain some semblance of normality as long as neither thought too hard about the events of the previous night.
Still, as they and Mei exchanged awkward, split-second glances, before turning away and blushing, it wasn't entirely forgotten.
Mei frantically shook her head. I can't be distracted by these weird feelings, there's work to be done! "Alright, besties, listen up! As you all know, the panda's crazy strong, and so it's super-duper important that you learn to control your new abilities." She frantically scribbled 'PANDA POWERS' on her board. "Thus, I've set up some tests around here to help all of you master its abilities. Any questions?"
The four shook their heads. Tyler pounded his fists together. "Bring it, dork."
Ming's first course of action to investigating Mei's wish was to consult Mr. Gao for information; the senior had been a family friend of the Lees for decades and had performed numerous red panda rituals, including Ming's, her sisters', and even Mei's own failed ritual a few weeks ago. Thus, it would stand to reason that he'd know something about non-bloodline blessings.
Jin wordlessly tagged along, both to help his wife and to stop her from doing anything overly rash. He knew better than anyone how heated she got when she had a goal in mind, and even if she was trying to dial it back, her determination still flared up on occasion.
As Ming marched up and prepared to knock, she noticed a slip of paper taped to the old man's door. Carefully peeling the paper off, Jin read the note clinically. "Busy competing in chess tournament. Will be back soon."
"Of course he's out." Ming rolled her eyes in annoyance. What else could go wrong today?
"Maybe we could just let it go?" Jin calmly, bluntly suggested. "Mei's friends seem fine so far-"
Ming quickly dismissed the idea, the possibilities piling up in her mind. "What if they're not?! What if their bodies can't take it? What if one of them goes berserk? That Tyler boy having a panda raises an unspeakable number of questions! And why are they all… not red…?!" She trailed off, frustrated.
Sensing her rising frustration, Jin reassuringly rubbed her shoulder. Ming immediately leaned into it and reined in her anger with a breath, not wanting to freak out in public again. "Right, we'll just have to read over the temple scrolls again. There must be something I missed."
"Very well." Jin agreed, for the sake of his wife's state of mind. She never took disruptions to the status quo very well; the most he could do was be there for her as he always was.
"I just hope Mei-Mei's doing better than I am…" Ming muttered.
"TARGET PRACTICE!" Mei happily yelled, gesturing to a basketball hoop in the corner of the park. Her friends had assumed their panda forms. "Just take a ball and try to get it in the hoop."
"That just sounds like basketball, Mei." Miriam noted, grasping a basketball in her fuzzy paws. "Which means there's probably a catch…"
"Right you are, Mir! You gotta get them in AS PANDAS! This is gonna take a small, controlled portion of your strength to pull off. Too weak, and it's not going in. Too strong, and the ball's gonna go into space!"
"Oh! Like when you threw a dodgeball at Tyler's head and it sheared off his hair?" Abby excitedly noted. "And you broke a window and got detention for days and-"
"We were all there, Abby." Priya cut her friend's impassioned tirade short, smirking in amusement.
"It took me a week to grow that back! A WEEK!" Tyler threw up his hands.
"Wow, only a week?" Miriam added. "What's your secret?"
"Were you always part-panda?!" Abby again.
"Guys!" Mei yelled, trying to get the group back on topic. "The game?"
"Right!" Miriam stepped forward first. After momentarily calculating the shot – years of skateboarding had given her an innate sense of physics – she flung the ball with careful precision.
Unfortunately, she slightly overshot, having failed to account for her new size. "Dang." Miriam slumped.
"Not bad, Mir!" Mei lightly slapped her green-furred friend on the back. "That was pretty close."
Miriam could only chuckle at that, her blush flaring up. She was just glad she was already a panda, or else things would have been super awkward. "Thanks."
Priya, after sending a knowing glance, took her shot. Compared to Miriam, Priya heavily undershot and didn't get anywhere near the hoop.
Tyler broke out into laughter at that. "You serious?! That was pathetic!"
"Well, excuse me for not being a pro like you." Priya muttered, sarcastically.
"Alright, break it up, you two." Mei got between them before one of them got the idea to use the other as a target. "Tyler, shut it. Priya, you held back too much. You gotta use your strength more!" As Priya nodded in understanding, Mei pointed at Tyler. "You go next, Tyler."
Tyler smirked, spinning his basketball on his claw. "Step aside and let the basketball king school you fools." Ignoring Mei's pointed glare, he stepped forth. With a well-practiced throw, he threw without thinking…
…and actually landed the shot, much to his surprise. "I actually did it…" He quietly muttered, not quite believing it himself. Even with his newfound strength, his basketball skills were on point.
Mei whistled in amazement as the rest of the group cheered. "Nice work, Ty. I mean it."
"What can I say? Basketball's my thing." Tyler smiled; this one was genuine, unlike the smug one he sported a few seconds ago. He got a devious idea. "Besides, I'm still better than you, Meilin."
As expected, Mei rose to his challenge and stepped in front of the hoop. "Oh, is that so? Well, if you're so cocky, Mr. Pro Player, why don't you try to get past me?"
"You're on!" Before Miriam, Priya or Abby could blink, Mei and Tyler began tussling over the ball in full panda form, neither being able to get a leg up on the other despite their efforts.
Finally, Mei managed to get the ball. However, before she could jump to make a shot, Tyler pulled her down by the tail. As she returned to Earth, Mei knocked into Tyler, and the two stumbled to the ground.
As Mei came to, she realised that she'd fallen on top of Tyler. And their noses were touching! Quickly getting to their feet, the two awkwardly laughed and blushed from their forced closeness. Abby wolf-whistled again. Priya, on the other hand, turned to Miriam, who merely offered an uneasy thumbs up.
Mei, undaunted, simply called to Abby. "Abby, your turn."
Abby flashed a huge, Cheshire-cat-like grin as she stepped up. Immediately, Mei realised she may have made a slight mistake allowing her Korean friend to throw something with her newfound panda strength.
"Uh, Mei? Abby's got that look in her eyes again…" Tyler mumbled, his arrogance vanishing in a second to be replaced with fear.
"Crud." Miriam could only mutter in response.
"Let's not do anything too hasty here…" Priya reasoned.
Abby only laughed insanely at that. Before anyone could blink, she wound up and flung the ball into the sky with all her strength. As expected, the ball picked up speed at an insane rate and burst into flames, leaving a trail of smoke as it sailed through the air. Abby grinned maniacally and Mei, Miriam, Tyler and Priya watched in varying states of dread.
Finally, after defeathering a hapless bird, popping a weather balloon and narrowly missing an airplane's wing, the ball returned to Earth at lightning speed.
"OUTTA THE WAY!" Mei yelled, dodging to the side. Her friends followed suit as the ball smashed into the grass, leaving a large crater in the dirt with a powerful explosion.
As the others shook in terror, Abby shivered from the sheer awesomeness of her throw. "THAT WAS AWESOME! You weren't kidding when you said the panda was strong!"
Adjusting her glasses, Mei mumbled. "Let's try something else…"
Upon stepping into her family temple, Ming's watchful eyes immediately focused on the shrine, where she saw burn marks on the floor that weren't there during her show on Friday, and faint multi-coloured marks on the floor that corresponded to each of Mei's friends; tangible proof that whatever her little Mei-Mei did that Friday had indeed occurred.
There wasn't any time to waste. She needed to get to the bottom of this, to figure out why Sun Yee came to her daughter and personally granted her request.
"So, Sun Yee's never granted any of your ancestors' requests before?" Jin questioned, carefully sidestepping the fallen lantern on the floor.
"There's no recorded history of any such incidents." Ming frowned, pulling out the hidden scroll from behind Sun Yee's portrait. "After ascending, she would grant the women of the Lee family their own panda forms at some point during their adolescent years. Beyond that, however, there have been no documented occurrences of her responding to their pleas."
"My sisters pleaded to her, for they rejected their pandas too. As did Mother." She turned to Jin. "I pleaded to her many times within this shrine. I wished for her to remove my panda forever. But she never responded, no matter how hard I tried."
"Perhaps she wanted you to see it as a blessing?" Jin could only offer her a guess and a sympathetic pat on her shoulder. He would never be in tune with the mystical side of his wife's linage, but he'd done his research – one of Wu's requirements for allowing him to marry her daughter – and he could harbour a guess at Sun Yee's motives. At Ming's annoyed stare, he backtracked with another explanation. "Or perhaps she could only give spirits and not take them?"
Ming could only sigh at that as she pored over the scroll with clinical precision. The characters on the scroll provided no hints as to any kind of answer. "I don't like this. It feels so abnormal." How could my Mei-Mei succeed in doing what so many before her have failed to?
Finally, she was forced to give up. The scroll provided nothing she did not already know, and she returned it to its hiding place behind Sun Yee's portrait. Undaunted, she simply moved to pull out another scroll from the wall.
Jin recognised the imagery on this scroll; Ting Lee, another of Ming's ancestors, watching from afar as her daughters kneeled in a ritual circle. An elder in robes – a spirit medium – fired a beam of light from his ceremonial sword. Her daughters' panda spirits floated above their heads as Sun Yee watched from the heavens, frowning.
By Ting Lee's time, people had begun to fear the panda's immense power and ostracized those born with the spirits. She had pleaded for a way to protect her descendants from the violent wrath of the townsfolk without resorting to bloodshed, and, when Sun Yee didn't respond, she consulted a medium to have the spirits extracted in a bid to appear normal.
Ming let out another growl of frustration, having run into another dead end with no new information. A harrowing thought came to mind. What if Mei-Mei's friends reject their spirits? Will the ritual even work on those not of this bloodline?! Will it HARM them?
She pushed the thought aside, merely gesturing for Jin to bring her another scroll. She'd learn something about this if it killed her.
"Why not examine those scrolls over there?" Jin pointed to a box in a cabinet to the right.
Ming frowned, reservedly. "No point in doing so. Mother told me those scrolls were damaged beyond repair during the…" Her face scrunched up. "…incident." Though he wasn't entirely convinced, Jin elected to drop the subject.
The ground shook as panda paws raced across the grass. For this test, Mei had instructed her friends to do laps around the park on all-fours, saying something about them "needing to run like pandas".
Finally, the pink blur that was Abby crossed the finish line first, and Mei blew her whistle for the others to stop. "AND ABBY TAKES THE GOLD!"
"YEAH, BOIIII!" Abby yelled after taking a moment to catch her breath. Despite her inability to shift back to normal, she'd adapted to her new form like a duck to water.
"Aw, man, I lost to ABBY?!" Tyler threw up his paws in frustration. Despite his stamina, even he was no match for the excitable girl's seemingly limitless energy, though his basketball training granted him an innate sense of agility.
"Phew…" Miriam panted. "Nice job, Abby." While athletic, she wasn't anywhere near as coordinated on all-fours as Abby or Mei were. She much rather preferred her trusty skateboard, thank you very much.
Priya, being the least athletic of the bunch, followed behind a short time later, panting heavily. She wasn't used to this kind of excitement, a fact not helped by the struggle to stay in her panda form to begin with. "I think I'm getting butt cramps…" She barely got out before reverting to her human form.
"Nice work, besties!" Mei's eyes were filled with stars. "You're all adapting to this panda thing super well."
Miriam rubbed the back of her head, flustered. "T-thanks, Mei."
"You're right, Mei. This weird panda thing is kind of fun." Tyler hastily muttered between breaths.
"C'mon, guys!" Mei said. "There's still more I gotta show you. I haven't even gotten to the hugging, or the climbing, or the super cool…" She paused, as if trying to describe the sensation of flying through the sky to her friends. "panda… jump… transformation thingie yet!"
"This is super cool and all, but can we take a break?" Priya noted. "If I go any longer, I'm gonna have a heart attack or something." Plus, she needed to figure out how to bring up the encroaching love triangle between her besties.
Abby, Miriam and even Tyler echoed her sentiment with a resounding "Ditto".
Mei sighed out of disappointment, though she saw their point regardless. "Alright. Let's take a break." With that, the five all laid on the grass to gather their wits and watch the skies.
Abby broke the ice first. "Man, I can't wait to show off all this," she shook her fuzzy belly, "at school tomorrow! Look out, world, here comes the new and improved ABBY!"
Tyler, Miriam and Priya's eyes all widened at that. In their excitement, none of them had considered that they'd have to bring their new forms to school. And, as Mei demonstrated, you couldn't exactly hide a giant panda from anyone.
"Uhhh… yeah, great." Priya mumbled. "School."
"You guys nervous?" Mei asked, brows raised in concern.
Miriam saw no point in lying. "A bit. It's so…"
"…weird." Tyler finished. For a moment, he almost sounded… nervous. "Can't I pretend to be sick or something?"
"It'll be okay, guys." Mei reassured, placing one hand on Miriam's shoulder and another on Tyler's to reassure them. Briefly shuddering from the blossoming warmth that came from their close contact, she continued. "They all loved my panda, so they'll totally love your pandas too. Besides, I'll be there with you guys every step of the way. Panda or no panda, right?"
"Right. Y'know, you really gotta stop turning my words back on me." Miriam chuckled, though her thoughts were conflicted. How the heck am I gonna stay normal around Mei when I'm with her in basically every class?!
Tyler let out an unsure moan. My team's gonna find out and they're gonna laugh at me AGAIN! And Mei's gonna find out about this… thing for her!
Priya remained silent. Welp, Meg's gonna find out and I'll be as good as dead. RIP. Doomed.
A high-pitched, feminine scream interrupted their musings. With their enhanced senses, the five caught it from about half a mile away and immediately sat up, exhaustion and impending doom forgotten.
"Woah!" Mei jumped. "What the heck was that?"
"I think it came from…" Priya took a moment to ascertain the distance. Finally, she pointed with her paw past the park gate. "…outside the park."
"Well, we gotta check it out!" Abby piped in. "What if someone needs our help?!"
"I dunno." Tyler shrugged. "What if it's nothing?"
"I'm not sure either." Miriam argued. "But if someone's in danger, we gotta help them."
"Girl, I don't know." Priya added. "My panda senses are telling me that this could be super dangerous."
"C'mon, everyone! Where's your sense of adventure?!" Abby noted. "You got super cool panda powers and you don't wanna use them?"
"Okay, that's two for 'stay' and two for 'go'." Miriam noted. "What should we do, Mei?"
The four turned to Mei, who looked rather conflicted. I promised mom I wouldn't do anything reckless, but what if someone's really in danger? Sun Yee used the panda to protect those she loved, so should I do the same? But what if it's nothing…?
"SOMEONE, HEEEEEEEEELP!" Another scream.
With that, Mei realised she couldn't let an innocent potentially get hurt while she had the means to help them. "We gotta check it out."
Her friends agreed with a unified nod, the second scream having quashed their hesitation. "Agreed."
After what felt like hours of searching, Ming's investigation had yielded little progress. No matter what scrolls she looked through, none of them gave her information on anything close to Mei's wish. By this point, she'd resorted to checking, double-checking, and even triple-checking some of her scrolls just to make sure she hadn't missed anything, but to no avail.
Finally, she gave a frustrated moan and faceplanted into the table.
"Are you sure you're okay with this? With Mei's friends being pandas?" Jin questioned out of concern, rubbing her back.
"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure." Ming sighed, for what felt like the one hundredth time that day. "Mother always told me that, regardless of Sun Yee's intentions, the panda was a monster, an inconvenience. A detriment to perfection. And I knew that for a fact after the… incident."
Jin moved to interject, but remained silent, knowing his wife had more to say.
"But Mei-Mei defied us all. She learned to control her panda without repressing it the way we all did. She embraced it, made it a permanent part of her identity when the rest of us strove to reject it. She made it… something not to be feared."
"She was pretty happy." Jin noted. "It's like the panda allowed her to experience a new side of herself."
"That is true. I… shouldn't have tried to restrain her for so long." Ming muttered, her past actions regretfully echoing in her mind. "When I heard she made a wish to grant her friends their own pandas, I was angry and scared that she went behind my back to do something so potentially dangerous. But she seemed so distraught that I wanted to at least give her and her friends a chance to prove themselves after… everything. Was I to blame? Would she have gone to such lengths if I was more encouraging? Would Sun Yee have wanted me to do this?"
"And if what I knew about the panda is wrong," Ming practically cried from frustration, "what else might I have been wrong about?"
A single tear came to Ming's eye, and she began trembling as if she was a teenager again, relieving that harrowing ordeal once more. Unbeknownst to either of them, her Tamagotchi glowed again; this glow, however, was a duller orange compared to the angry red it was during her angry spells.
Jin immediately swept her into a massive hug, at which point the floodgates opened. With no one around to pick apart her perfect image, Ming took the chance and cried into her husband's shoulder as he held her tightly.
"I don't know what to believe anymore." Ming barely got out between tears. She hated her lack of control or knowledge of the situation, and her thoughts were a swirling mess of conflict. "Am I really this out of touch?"
"It's okay. Let it all out." Jin reassured. "This is a strange time for all of us. But it might not be a bad thing. This could serve as a golden opportunity to learn a new side of the blessing. And if Mei and her friends can have fun with their own pandas, then maybe-"
"I don't think so." Ming said, curtly, though she didn't feel entirely certain. He would never force the issue, but he had gently encouraged her in that direction before. After a moment to gather her thoughts, she felt much calmer in her husband's embrace and saw fit to take another course of action. "Still, it might be wise if I took a break to check on Mei-Mei. I should see how her friends' training is going."
At Jin's questioning look, she elaborated. "Don't worry. I promised I wouldn't meddle in her affairs as long as she knows to stay safe."
After returning the scrolls to their rightful places, Ming left the temple room. Jin followed, happy to see his wife had perked up again. In some respects, he wished – not literally, and not in the temple; he didn't want to cause any more accidental wishes – that he could be a panda himself so he could truly understand his wife's perspective.
Plus, it might be fun being big and fluffy for a change.
The instant Ming opened the gate to leave, her face contorted into shocked confusion as she saw her daughter race across the rooftops in full panda form. Mei's friends followed through the streets a second later, clumsily weaving through traffic and making ungraceful leaps to keep up with their BFF.
"MEI-MEI?!" Before she knew it, Ming found herself running after her daughter, albeit at a much slower pace. Jin followed a short distance behind her.
"Okay, but what if the vampires… could also turn into werewolves?" Justine suggested. She, Megan and Carter were walking down the street (sticking to the shadows, naturally), engaged in a discussion about the hottest monsters to date.
"Rad." Carter stated in a bored monotone.
"That is totally hot, but what about…" Megan couldn't even finish her sentence before she saw the major weirdo – Mei – dashing across the rooftops in her red panda form. "Woah."
"Outta the way! Pandas coming through!" One of Mei's friends (Megan wasn't sure which) yelled, before what appeared to be a whole army of pandas of varying colors raced down the street. Megan barely stepped out of the way before a yellow panda raced past her at lightning speed.
Wait a sec. There's something off about that yellow panda. Megan immediately thought back to how Mei's hair used to be black, and how the panda only started showing up after her hair turned red. If Mei's hair turned red when she got that freaky panda thing, then…
She recalled her fated meeting with Priya the day before. Priya said she dyed her hair, but the yellow panda looked awfully familiar… Immediately, she connected the dots, and her stoic exterior dropped with her jaw. "Priya?"
As Mei and her friends reached the source of the scream, they immediately halted and hid behind a wall, shocked at what they saw: Stacy Frick and her posse were cornered by a group of Chinese men, all wearing black suits and wielding baseball bats, cattle prods and whips.
AN: DUN-DUN-DUH! And we got ourselves a cliffhanger (as if the chapter title didn't tip you off)!