Kung Fu Troll 3: The Hidden Benders Chapter 8: Introduction to Bending, a trolls fanfic

Chapter Seven – Introduction to Bending

The Troll Tree warriors gathered in a field behind the Troll Tree, where Rosiepuff waited for them. Branch, Poppy, Suki, Cooper, and Smidge sat on the ground, and Peppy stood behind them. Symphony floated above Branch to get a better view.

"First, an introduction to bending." Rosiepuff said. "Some would claim that bending is a form of magic, but that's stupid. Bending the elements is nothing more than your chi transforming into a natural element; or, as is most cases, your chi guides an element to do your bidding. In simple terms: your chi connects you to a natural element you can find around you. Your chi is your life energy, which means bending is an extension of yourself. There are four elements: air, water, earth, and fire. Each element has a sub-element, with the exception of air due to its ability to blend with any of the elements or sub-elements. The sub-elements are highly refined versions of their originals. For earth, the sub-element is metal. For fire, it's lightning. Water's sub-element is—"

"Ice?" Cooper guessed.

"Ice is simply another form water takes." Rosiepuff corrected. "Blood-bending is the sub-element for water-bending."

Poppy frowned bitterly at this. A horrid sub-element. Artemis did so many cruel things with blood-bending.

"In order to understand one element, you must understand them all." Rosiepuff continued. "Each element has its strengths, weaknesses, and individual styles of fighting."

Smidge raised a hand like a student in class. "Not to discredit your ability as a Golden Rose, but how can you show us all the elements when you only bend water?"

"Per my training as a Golden Rose, I was required to learn the fighting styles of all the elements." Rosiepuff said. "By understanding and studying all the elements, you become a stronger bender with your own element; and knowing the fighting styles for bending the elements can improve your kung fu. As for how I'm going to show you, I just need a little help from this." She pulled the Nymph's Amulet out from under her collar, allowing the pendant to rest on her chest.

"You have the Nymph's Amulet?" Suki gasped. "I thought that thing was lost after Poppy beat Artemis."

"This amulet is a relic of my family. Therefore, it is mine to protect." Rosiepuff explained. "Now, allow me to demonstrate. As I move through each element, notice the differences in my stances and movements. First, you have water, which is the element of adaptability, fluidity, and healing." Rosiepuff pulled water from the bag at her hip. She performed elegant feats of water-bending, even creating ice and then turning it back to water again. When she finished, she returned the water to its pouch. Her students clapped politely. "Earth-benders are grounded, practical, and rough. Also, based on my experience, they are very hard-headed and blunt." Rosiepuff stomped a foot, kicking up a rock the size of her skull, and she shot the rock over the warriors' heads. She created columns of rocks and shockwaves in the ground. "Fire is the element of power and life, wild in nature. Fire-benders must use extra caution when practicing their element so it will not get away from them."

"So why are we sitting in a grassy field?" Branch asked nervously.

"To prove my point." Rosiepuff shot several fire blasts and created a ring of fire. She cracked fire whips and even made a flaming dragon. But when the dragon disappeared, some of the grass caught fire. Without pausing, Rosiepuff summoned her water to put it out. "Now, lastly, air-bending. This is the element that represents community and harmony. Most air-benders I have met were nomads or lived a monk's life." Rosiepuff's air-bending demonstration involved large gusts of wind, mini-tornadoes, and even a sphere of air that she balanced on perfectly to move around.

"Cool." The young warriors breathed at once. Peppy chuckled under his breath at their amazement.

"As for the sub-elements, they take much more time and skill to master. You also can't do the same things to them that you could the originals. For example, metal-bending." Rosiepuff pulled out a throwing knife to show them. "Metal is a very refined version of earth, but you can't treat it like earth. Metal can be stretched, crushed, reshaped, or simply levitated, like so." She tucked the knife away in her sleeve pocket once she finished the demonstration. "Lightning is just as wild as fire. It's ten times more powerful, and one slip-up will surely kill you. You never hold onto lightning for very long." Taking a step back, lightning crackled to life in Rosiepuff's hands, and she shot it through her fingers into the air. "Blood is essentially the water in our bodies that gives us life. Since that blood runs through nearly every part of our bodies, blood-bending gives you the ability to control a living thing like a puppet master. Peppy? I wouldn't dream of asking any of the students to do this, but would you be comfortable being the demonstration?"

"That won't be necessary!" Poppy answered before her father could. "I'll never be a blood-bender. None of us will."

Rosiepuff raised an eyebrow. "Are you a water-bender?"

"Well, yes." Poppy said, confused.

"Do you want to be a good water-bender?"

"Yes, but I can't—"

"Then you will learn blood-bending." Rosiepuff insisted. "Blood-bending is not bad just because some bad people used it improperly. Quite frankly, only a handful of communities in this country enforce the rule that blood-bending is forbidden. What if an entire family of fire-benders went around wreaking havoc and murdering people with their abilities? Would that make fire an evil element?"

"No." Poppy admitted.

"You will learn the basics of blood-bending." Rosiepuff said firmly. "Not just so you can use it when needed, but also so you know what to do when it's used against you. That's the basis of the concept of learning all the element-bending styles instead of only your own."

"She's right." Peppy said as he stepped forward. "One-sided thinking does not benefit anyone."

"Still, I will apologize in advance for this." Rosiepuff raised her hands, and she forced Peppy to move this way and that, looking like a wild marionette. Rosiepuff kept it brief, and Peppy stretched a little. "How did that feel?"

"Very strange." Peppy said. "Also, a bit painful."

"There are more ways to use blood-bending besides controlling someone." Rosiepuff assured her worried students. "There are some instances where it can help with internal bleeding."

"When do we get to bend our own elements?" Cooper asked.

"At the moment, you, Suki, and Smidge are the only ones who don't have an element to bend." Rosiepuff pointed out. "That will take some time and chi practice. In the meantime, you will learn the practices and philosophies of these arts if bending is still something that interests you."

"But we're ready for bending real elements." Suki insisted.

"What's the point of learning to bend the elements when we can't bend the elements?" Smidge added.

"It's a new perspective." Rosiepuff answered. "My family were masters of several forms of martial arts and weaponry, and some of my ancestors even created their own fighting style based on element-bending. If you want to learn, these lessons will improve your kung fu skills. Do you want to learn?"

"We want to be benders, like you and our friends." Suki said.

"But, until then, I guess we still want to learn." Cooper said. "Unless there is a way to just make our element appear."

Rosiepuff laughed lightly. "Legend has it the first benders were mythical creatures known as nymphs. At some point, the nymphs began unlocking the bending ability in trolls. The theory is that, while it is true that natural bending ability you are born with is rare, all trolls are capable of bending the elements. The nymphs wanted to share their gifts and unlocked the bending abilities in the trolls."

"Can we do that?" Smidge pleaded.

"Yeah! Let's do it!" Suki agreed.

"I don't know how to do that." Rosiepuff scoffed. "That was a spiritual power possessed by the nymphs. If they ever existed, they disappeared like a thousand years ago." Suki, Cooper, and Smidge pouted.

"You should heed these lessons, you three." Peppy said. "This is valuable information that will make you better warriors."

"If it makes you feel better, we will go through the steps my family took to unlock the element inside." Rosiepuff said. She grinned amusedly at the young warriors' enthusiasm. "Very good. Let's get started."

The entire day was spent walking through the basics and sparring using these new fighting styles. Despite not having their own element, Suki, Cooper, and Smidge found the new information valuable.

"When will I get to breathe fire out of my mouth like a dragon?" Branch asked during dinner.

"All in good time. After you've learned to control your literal firepower." Rosiepuff said simply. "Tomorrow, we will review the basics and then move on to the next step. There are two parts to learning about bending. The first part is technique. I will show you how to use your element and you will learn the different styles of bending to better your skills. The second part of your teachings is history. You will learn the history of bending, the myths and legends, the truth versus the rumors, and the great benders over generations of learning. Those of you without an element will learn the fundamentals of unlocking the full potential of your living energy. Everything I am teaching you comes from what the Golden Rose Clan teaches. Though a biased opinion, I truly believe everything I learned made me a better bender, and it will do the same for you. For now, let us have dinner."

The student benders buzzed with conversation all through dinner. There was too much anticipation to think about anything else except their new bending lessons. It was the same through breakfast the next day, and few of them could concentrate on their warm-ups before their official training.

"The Dragon Warriors has arrived!" Branch cheered as he burst through the doors. His friends followed right behind him.

"The former Furious Five have also arrived!" Cooper announced.

"Do we have to call ourselves the former Furious Five?" Suki asked.

"Well, we aren't exactly the Furious Five without five of us." Smidge pointed out. "Not since…..you know….." It still hurt a little to talk about Guy Diamond's death.

"What if you guys called yourselves the Furious Four?" Branch suggested.

"Nah, that name refers to your parents and my parents while they were students under Grandmaster Ryu." Poppy said. "We'd need a new name, and our brainstorming hasn't amounted to much."

"Can we just call ourselves Golden Rose Clan members?" Suki asked Rosiepuff.

"Afraid not." Rosiepuff said. "Four ways to get into the clan: you're born into it, you marry into it, you're adopted into it, or we sometimes induct exceptionally strong benders as honorary Golden Rose."

"So, is that still a no?" Smidge pouted.

"I did say exceptionally strong." Rosiepuff thought for a moment. "You know, if this is something very important to you, and provided you are devoted to your training, there is something else you can call yourselves." The former Furious Five members perked up at this. "It is said that the Nymph Queen had a gathering of her own. Disciples, of sorts. These were her most trusted warriors, and they accompanied her on missions or performed special tasks for her. They were called The Nymph's Knights."

"We promise we'll stick to our training!" Cooper said.

"I know it seems like a weird thing to fret about, but comradery and teamwork are our thing." Suki said.

"If there's something we have to do to prove it, we'll do it." Smidge agreed.

"I can vouch for them, too." Poppy said. "I don't know what I'd do without these guys having my back."

Rosiepuff considered it. "Agreed. Normally, you must be a bender to be a Nymph Knight. But we'll make an exception here. Just know that certain actions and disobeying the laws of bending—as I will explain during training—will result in you losing this title."

"Understood, Master Rosiepuff." The four warriors said with a bow.

"Please don't call me that." Rosiepuff said. "Master of the elements I may be, I'm not exactly comfortable with that."

"How shall your students refer to you then?" Peppy asked. "In this palace, we show respect to our teachers."

"In my clan, the students refer to their mentors as 'sifu.'" Rosiepuff answered. "You may do so here, if you wish."

"Yes, Sifu Rosiepuff." Poppy, Suki, Cooper, and Smidge said.

Rosiepuff smiled. "Very well. From this day forward, until the day you do something to lose this right, I christen the four of you Nymph Knights. The title is yours to hold and display provided you follow your bender teachings well." The new Nymph Knights bowed in acknowledgement. "Good. Let's get started."

First, the students had to sit in a row and simply meditate. Branch and Poppy were instructed to hold their element to "get a feel for it." Branch held a little flame in his palms. Poppy had a flame in one palm and a sphere of water in the other. The others had small mats placed before them, each one holding a cup of water, a rock, a lit candle, and a wooden toy top.

"Your element is a large part of yourself." Rosiepuff instructed, pacing up and down the line of students. "Factors like your personality and environment where you were raised contribute to determining your element type. The element you bend is a part of you. Hold it, feel it, and focus on what is happening to your body as you do. Those without an element: I want you to explore yourself. Look within your mind's eye and feel what kind of bender you would be. Now, you do not control your element. The elements are tools, almost like weapons, and you are its humble guide. Fighting to control that element will only backfire in your face. We begin our day by meditating and connecting with our element. While we do so, we also recite the Five Laws of Bending. Repeat them after me. Bending an element is a gift, and I will not squander it."

"Bending an element is a gift, and I will not squander it." The students echoed.

"I am not in control of nature nor my element. It is my partner in battle."

"I am not a spirit or a deity. I will not use my power to pretend to be one."

"Having this ability does not make me better than others. The strong protect themselves, but the stronger protect others."

"Misusing my bending reflects badly on myself and other benders. I will bend with honor."

"This oath, these laws, are the foundation of a bender's philosophy. Learn them well." Rosiepuff said. "After you meditate a while longer, we will spend today going in-depth with water-bending."

To everyone's delight, bending training went smoothly. Having kung fu mastered served as an excellent base for learning the art of bending the elements. Over the next few weeks, the Nymph's Knights and Dragon Warrior worked hard and advanced quickly through their training. Even though they had not found their element yet, Suki, Smidge, and Cooper developed new techniques that would aid them in battle. Rosiepuff rediscovered her love of teaching. As she put on the matriarchal hair ornament each day, she felt like she finally fulfilled her destiny as leader of the Golden Rose Clan. Surely, her grandparents would be proud of their granddaughter passing on the knowledge of their clan.

Speaking of which, she had seen them often as of late. In the mirror, their reflections would stand by hers. Their spirits seemed to appear briefly and then vanish when she took a second look. They would come into her dreams, too. One night, after a rather pleasant dream, Rosiepuff awoke and saw it was still the middle of the night. She sat up in bed, staring at her blanket and wondering why she wasn't sleeping so well tonight. Then, she remembered what day it was.

It was the anniversary of Titan's attack on her home.

Rosiepuff stood and tiptoed from her room. Her nightgown swished around her ankles. She left the barracks and just strolled about the palace. She somehow ended up in the training hall, and she marveled at it. Rosiepuff could remember Branch's description of the training hall during his first days at the Troll Tree. At first, she thought it was pure suicide to go through such a course. Although, she could see a bit of elegance in it. Rosiepuff moved the water about in one of the obstacles.

The door creaked open, and Rosiepuff whipped around to it. But she saw no one. She created fire in her palm and looked around. Still, not another soul besides her own. Rosiepuff glanced to the fire, and then touched the Nymph's Amulet around her neck. She remembered all the stories her grandmother told her about the Nymph Queen and all the amazing things she did.

"Now don't be too loud. Let's not wake the house."

The fire in Rosiepuff's palm vanished, and she looked up to see Grandma Kala herself. The room changed to become the simpler training hall in the Golden Rose home. In here, the floor was made of hard-packed earth, a trench of water circled the room, and torches lined the walls. Perfect for practicing benders.

"What are we doing, Grandma?" Rosiepuff asked.

"Your grandfather wants to wait a while longer before you try this, but I think you're ready." Kala unclipped the Nymph's Amulet from her neck and put it around her granddaughter. "I snuck this off your grandfather while he slept. When you become the leader of our clan, this is another relic that will pass to you."

"The Nymph's Amulet?" Rosiepuff breathed. "The ability to bend all four elements?"

"Yes. Care to try it out?"

"If you think I'm ready."

"Well, let's see!"

Kala shot a ball of fire, which Rosiepuff dodged. She created a water whip and snapped it towards Kala. The mermaid troll caught the end of it and threw a stream of fire. Rosiepuff summoned rocks from the ground to defend herself. She used an air blast to throw Kala back. When Kala came in with more fire, Rosiepuff gave twice as much back. The spar lasted only a minute, and there was no real winner.

"That was awesome!" Rosiepuff laughed.

"You did so well." Kala said. "I'm very proud of you."

Rosiepuff shut her eyes and inhaled deeply, filled with pride. But when she opened her eyes, she was back in the Troll Tree training hall, and Kala had disappeared. She touched the Nymph's Amulet, and she sighed sadly.

"Nice work."

Gasping, Rosiepuff made icicles from the water in the obstacle course, and she shot them at the door. Peppy yelped, dodging or deflecting the sharp projectiles.

Rosiepuff winced. "Oops. Sorry."

Peppy put a hand to his racing heart. "Why are you always shooting icicles at me?!"

"Well, why do you keep sneaking up on me?" Rosiepuff countered in a bit of a sassy tone.

"I was simply doing a quick check of the palace. I do it every night." Peppy said. "By now, I should know better than to sneak up on you. I must say that was some fine bending you were doing. You are the epitome of a Golden Rose."

"Thank you." Rosiepuff said. "How long were you standing there, anyway?"

"Only a minute or two." Peppy said. "I didn't want to disturb you. There was this look in your eye. I cannot explain it. But you looked like me when I used to train with my father."

"In this case, it was my grandmother." Rosiepuff said.

Peppy nodded thoughtfully. "You mention your grandfather and grandmother often. Were your parents never around?"

"They were." Rosiepuff assured. "They tried to be very active in my life. My grandparents' eldest child was my father, but he and my mother renounced their claim to leadership. They opted for a peaceful civilian life in Hana Rosa. As their eldest child, the responsibilities and training of the heir to the clan fell upon me. Ergo, I spent much more time with my grandparents since they trained me to take over for them one day."

"I think they'd be proud of you." Peppy said with a smile. "I, for one, am thankful to have you around to teach. These are valuable skills for my students to learn; and I wouldn't mind a few pointers myself."

"Happy to." Rosiepuff said. "It's strange. This almost feels…..it's hard to explain…..it's almost like being a teacher is better than being a chef. Of course, I'm looking forward to my restaurant and house being rebuilt, but I don't think I want to go back. Which is weird for me because I was afraid to leave it in the first place."

"Then stay." Peppy said. "I brought this up with Branch once: you are, among many other things, very self-sacrificing. You did what was best for your clan; you did what was best for your son and daughter-in-law; you did what was best for your grandson. It's okay to do what's best for you. If you want to continue training the students of this palace, do it."

Rosiepuff smiled. "I might just take you up on that offer."