Last time on Kung Fu Academia!
The day before the school year began, Denko and his group were confronted by Tigress and the Furious Five. Having a one on one duel, Tigress managed to destroy the raven's enchanted sword, but her action also led to the disbanding of the Furious Five. Now our students arrive at Jade Palace Academy to find a new change in school structure…
"We have what now?" Koji asked.
"Home rooms," Shifu explained, handing out schedules to everyone that entered the building. "The headmasters have decided that there will be a more structured learning program this year, especially after recent events."
"I can't believe Tigress would go off on someone like that," Toka said in disbelief.
"It was kind of predictable thinking back on it," Neyo said.
"Anyway, can we talk about something other than the big fight last night," Alena said. "I'm in Class Beta. Huh, that's a weird name for a class."
"It refers to the Roman Alphabet," Junjie said, whom was listening in on the conversation. "Each homeroom is given a letter. Class Beta is the second homeroom, with Class Alpha being the first."
"What about the other homerooms," Suya asked.
"They probably won't matter in the long run as most if not all of the main characters will be in Alpha and Beta," Koji said, casually breaking the fourth wall.
Everyone stared at the beetle before Shifu gave an awkward cough. "So, if you would all go to your homerooms we can get the day started."
"Shouldn't we drop off our stuff in the dorms?" Toka asked.
"The dorms are currently under renovations," Junjie explained. "Headmaster Kai said something about a prank gone wrong?"
"You let one stink bomb out of sight for a second," Monkey muttered as he passed by.
"So you will be staying with your parental guardians in the city instead of on campus," Junjie continued. "Now then, stop wasting my time and get to class!"
[***]
Class Alpha filled in quickly, with students taking their seats, which were arranged in a four-by-five grid. One student stood outside the door, taking a deep breath and muttering to himself.
"Alright Po, it's a new school year, a new start. It can't be as bad as last year, right?" The panda held his head up and walked into the classroom with confidence… only to trip over his own foot, bounce a good foot off the ground, and land face-first onto the teacher's desk, where a large barn owl gave an unamused look to the panda. "Uh… hi?"
"Mr. Ping, if you would please get off of my desk, that would be appreciated," the owl said.
Po quickly stood up. "Sorry about that. And, uh, my dad is Mr. Ping. Call me Po."
"I will only address you as such when you show that I should respect you," the owl said. "Now please, take the last seat in the back."
Po did as he was told and went to the back of the class, sitting down between a disinterested Sora and a scowling Tigress.
"Now then, allow me to introduce myself," the owl said. "I am Master Tyto, hired on this year as part of the Headmasters' new Hero Program. I expect great things from all of you, so be on your best behavior." Tyto grabbed a sheet off of paper off his desk and cleared his throat. "When I call you, please state your name."
The students went about doing so, with the class roster filling out as such: Po, Shen, Crane, Fenghuang (whom was taking an extra year of studies to become a Grandmaster), Song, Tigress, Tai Lung, Xing, Viper, Karasu, Aurora, Byakko, Sora, Hyung, Hideo, Jintien, Toka, and Suya. However, there were two other students in the class as well, ones that we haven't met before.
"Kai Jin," Tyto called.
"Right here," came a voice from the middle of the class. The one known as Kai Jin was a fox that had a brownish-orange color to his fur, with a stature that was closer to a wolf than a fox. He wore a red and white floral shirt with khaki shorts. "You can call me Jin, though. Don't want to get me confused with the headmaster, right?"
"Indeed," Tyto said, adding that adjustment to his roll-sheet while Sora muttered something about names being the same in the back. "And finally…" The owl peered down at his sheet, before looking up at the class. "I really don't want to butcher your name, so would you please say it for me?"
"You can just call me Chibi, sir!" a youthful voice shouted. He was a white wolf that looked more like a little kid than a young adult. He wore a white shirt and white pants, giving him a very bright look that matched his attitude.
"… Chibi it is then," Tyto said. He took a seat at his desk. "Now that introductions are out of the way, why don't we get down to our first lesson for the day: all of you are going to be coming up with hero names."
[***]
Meanwhile, over in the Class Beta homeroom, Neyo was idly twitting a pencil in his fingers, waiting for the class to start. The class didn't have a traditional seating arrangement, instead having various types of seats strewn around the room, with each student having a hardtop to write on if they didn't have one of the few desks.
"So… how was your summer?" Koji asked, trying to start a conversation. "You didn't come with us to the beach."
"Because I was preparing for this new curriculum," Neyo replied. He held up his syllabus, then did a double take as he looked at who Class Beta's teacher was. "Wait, they're a teacher here!?"
Everyone in the class turned to the door as it was promptly kicked open, a short figure in a cloak walking in and jumping onto the teacher's desk. They made eye contact with Neyo, which made the young hedgehog curl in on himself, before throwing off their cloak, revealing a female hedgehog wearing some kind of techno-armor.
"Hello, my students," the teacher said. "My name is Xie Zhen, and I will be your teacher this year." She pulled out a sheet of paper and held it up. "Each of you will come up to the front of the room and introduce yourself, say what fighting style you use, and then return to your seat." Zhen stared at Neyo, whom sunk further into his seat. "Why don't we start with my nephew first?"
"She's your aunt?" Koji asked.
Neyo looked at her. "No, she's my uncle."
The beetle gave him a look. "Dude, you're supposed to be the smart one here. Zhen is obviously a- "
"Look, it's really complicated and involves a blood feud between the hedgehog and ninja clans with a bit of magic thrown it, so just don't ask," Neyo said with a sigh. He got up from his seat and introduced himself.
The rest of Class Beta followed suit, with the following students: Mantis, Monkey, Mei Ling, Fung, Mei Mei, Soma, Koji, Alena, Kumo, Yuki, Biyu, and Saras (whom seemed to be even more quiet than usual). There were quite a few new students in this class as well. Those were the following: Scorpion, a master of medicine and poison; Eagle, an all-American believer in freedom and the high-flying Eagle Style; Wu Kong, whom was actually Monkey's brother; Gorilla, a brute without much brains; and Kuo, an antelope with skills in cooking and throwing sharp objects, mostly knives.
The next person to come up to the front was a bunny with dirty blonde fur and blue eyes, wearing a sky-blue shirt and khaki pants. "My name is Nexus," the bunny said. "I'm a swordsman and engineer." He then bowed and went back to his seat.
"He's kinda cute," Alena said.
"Yeah," Neyo muttered.
The last person that came up to the front was a male house cat with bluish-grey fur and red eyes. He was wearing jeans and an Air Force top, with a silver necklace hanging loose around his neck. "The name's Gryph, and I'm trained in CQC and gunplay," he said in a New York accent.
"And that's everyone," Zhen said. She turned to the board at the front of the room and wrote 'HEROISM' on it. "First lesson: what is heroism? Would any of you like to answer?"
[***]
Back over In Class Alpha, the students were working on their hero names, with Tyto keeping a tight watch on the students as they worked.
"Hey, Jintien," Hideo whispered. "Do you know anything about our teacher?"
"Not much," she replied. "All I know is that he was part of some elite group of heroes in the past. Rumor is that he was trained by the Owl Hero, Soren in his youth."
"If you two are so chatty, why don't you present first?" Tyto said, appearing behind the two and scaring them.
"How did he-?" Hideo started to say, but quickly shut up when the teacher gave him a stern glare. The frog hopped on up to the front of the class, then held up his whiteboard for the others to see. "My hero name is Frogman!" he announced.
"A bit generic, but it works," Tyto said with a shrug.
As Hideo sat back down, Jintien stepped up front and showed off her hero name. "The obscured hero, Tamashi!" she announced.
"That's Japanese for 'Spirit'," Karasu noted.
With those two out of the way, everyone else in the class came up to give their hero names as well.
"Celestial Phoenix is my chosen name," Shen announced.
"It's just like you to choose a high-and-mighty name, isn't it?" Jintien said, earning her a glare from the peacock.
"The Fated Hero, Tao Dragon!" Karasu said, doing a pose as he said his name.
"Please get off my desk," Tyto said deadpan.
"The sky-bound hero, Thunderbird," Crane announced.
"Aren't you a part of the Furious Five?" Toka asked. "Why not just go by Master Crane?"
"I'm not associating myself with that group at the moment," Crane said, making sure to give a pointed glare at Tigress. She dug her claws into her desk.
"The Judge of Souls, Ammit," Aurora said.
"Why'd you decide on naming yourself after the Egyptian devourer of souls?" Tyto asked.
"The name has a… personal connection for me," the jackal replied. She could feel Anubis' smirk in her mind.
Fenghuang causally walked up to the front of the room and held up her board. "Master Owl," she said. "That is all."
"Hero of the west, White Tiger!" Byakko announced.
"I'm pretty sure I've heard that name in a cartoon before," Toka muttered to himself.
Song did a leap up to the front of the class before doing a handstand, balancing her whiteboard on one foot. "I choose Wudao [AN: meaning "Dancer" in Chinese] as my name!"
"The serpent hero, Basilisk," Sora announced. He looked up at the ceiling. "Is having hero names really that necessary, Author?"
Tyto smacked the bat on the back of the head. "No breaking the Fourth Wall in my class," he said. Sora grumbled to himself as he sat back down.
"Black Death," Tai Lung said.
"Yeah, no," Tyto said. "The point of a hero name is to inspire people, not scare them."
"But it strikes fear into the hearts of my enemies!" Tai Lung shouted.
"Don't care, change it," Tyto said.
Tai Lung growled, then quickly erased his whiteboard and scribbled a new name on it. "There. Black Dragon. Is that better."
"Sure, whatever," Tyto said dismissively.
"But you were just-? Argh!" Tai Lung shouted, slamming his board down and stomping back to his desk.
"The Wild Hero, Jimseung," Hyung announced.
"That's Korean for 'Beast'," Byakko noted.
"You know Korean?" Suya asked.
"I've been learning it over the summer," the Pallas Cat explained. "I'm planning on going to meet Hyung's family this winter break."
"Guardian of Gongmen, Wolf Boss," Xing announced.
Po shivered. "I don't know why, but that name makes me feel uncomfortable."
"I'll be keeping my previous hero name," Viper said, holding up a whiteboard that read 'Master Viper.'
"As will I," Tigress said.
Toka came up to the front and held up his board. "The Flaming Hero, Feng Jade!" he shouted, punching the air for emphasis. "Feng is one of the words for 'Phoenix' in Chinese, for those that don't know."
"The Masked Hero, Kabuki," Jin announced.
Karasu raised an eyebrow at that. "So, you're the masked hero, and your name is just a type of mask?"
The fox rolled his eyes. "Not all of us can have super-creative names, okay?"
Chibi ran up to the front and held his board up, which barely managed to be shown over the teacher's desk. "The Celestial Hero, Okamiden!"
"That name rings familiar," Toka said. "I think I heard it in a video game once."
"Mystic Owl!" Suya announced, pounding a fist into the air. She let it fall when no one said anything. "What? No response?"
"Do you even have magic powers?" Xing asked.
"I'm… working on them," the snowy owl said, a blush coming to her face.
Finally, it was Po's turn to come up to the front. He looked down at his board, then turned it around for the class to see.
"… Po, you literally just wrote your name on it," Crane said.
"Yeah, but that's what I want to be called," Po said. "If I'm going to be helping people, I want to do it as, well, me."
"That's very noble of you," Tyto said.
Po gave a bow to the class and returned to his seat. "That, and I don't want to say that I'm the Dragon Warrior at the moment," he thought to himself. The panda gave a glance at Shen, whom gave a nod to Po in approval.
"With that out of the way, class is dismissed," Tyto said. "All of you need rest for tomorrow, as your first combat training begins."
"What will that be, Tyto Sensei?" Karasu asked.
The barn owl smirked. "You will be competing against Class Beta is a series of one-on-ones. Good luck."
Author's Note
Schoooool, is back. In. Session! The students have been broken up into two main classes, with their first challenge being to fight each other!
But wait, aren't there a few students missing from Season 1? And what did happen to Saras last chapter? And why is Neyo being so weird about his Uncle/ Aunt? The answers may be just around the corner...
